 | |
Former names | Lynchburg Baptist College (1971–1976) Liberty Baptist College (1976–1984) |
|---|---|
| Motto | "Knowledge Aflame"[1] |
| Type | Private university |
| Established | 1971 |
| Founder | Jerry Falwell Sr. Elmer L. Towns |
| Accreditation | SACS |
Religious affiliation | Southern Baptist Conservatives of Virginia (Southern Baptist Convention) |
Academic affiliation | NAICU |
| Endowment | $2.1 billion (2022)[2][3] |
| Chancellor | Jonathan Falwell |
| President | Dondi E. Costin |
| Provost | Scott Hicks |
Academic staff | 735 full-time, 3,075 part-time (fall 2022)[4] |
| Students | 96,709 (fall 2022)[4] |
| Undergraduates | 48,906 (fall 2022)[4] |
| Postgraduates | 47,803 (fall 2022)[4] |
| Location | , , United States |
| Campus | Small city[6], 7,000 acres (28 km2)[5] |
| Newspaper | The Liberty Champion |
| Colors | Navy blue, white, and red[7] |
| Nickname | Liberty Flames and Lady Flames |
Sporting affiliations | |
| Mascot | Sparky the Eagle |
| Website | liberty.edu |
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| This article is part of a series on |
| Conservatism in the United States |
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Liberty University (LU), known simply as Liberty, is a private evangelical Christian[8] university in Lynchburg, Virginia. It is affiliated with the Southern Baptist Conservatives of Virginia (Southern Baptist Convention). Founded in 1971 by Jerry Falwell Sr. and Elmer L. Towns as Lynchburg Baptist College, Liberty is among the world's largest Christian universities and one of the largest private non-profit universities in the United States by total student enrollment.[9][10]
Liberty University consists of 17 colleges, including the Helms School of Government and the Rawlings School of Divinity.[11][12] Most of its enrollment is in online courses;[13][14] in 2020, the university enrolled about 15,000 in its residential program and 80,000 online.[15][16] Its high number of students can be explained in particular by its tuition fees, which are among the lowest in the United States.[17] Liberty's athletic teams compete in Division I of the NCAA and are collectively known as the Liberty Flames. Their athletics program joined Conference USA as a full member in 2023.[18]
The university requires undergraduate students to take three Evangelical Bible-studies classes.[19] Its honor code, called the "Liberty Way", prohibits premarital sex, cohabitation, any kind of romantic relationship between members of the same sex,[20] and alcohol use.[21][22] The code was alleged to make it difficult to report sexual violence in a 2021 lawsuit. Liberty University is perceived as a "bastion of the Christian right", playing a prominent role in Republican politics under Falwell and his son and successor Jerry Falwell Jr. Falwell Jr. left in 2020 amid allegations of personal and professional impropriety and was later sued by the university.[23]
- ^ "Liberty University Quick Facts". Liberty University. Archived from the original on October 5, 2017. Retrieved August 13, 2016.
- ^ Moody, Josh (October 2, 2018). "Liberty University passes $3B in gross assets, report says it generates more than $1B annually in economic activity". The News and Advance. Archived from the original on September 6, 2024. Retrieved March 8, 2024.
- ^ Andrews, Kate (March 1, 2023). "Liberty to pay off $189M in bonds early". Virginia Business. Archived from the original on September 6, 2024. Retrieved March 8, 2024.
- ^ a b c d "College Navigator – Liberty University". nces.ed.gov. Archived from the original on December 13, 2020. Retrieved July 19, 2020.
- ^ "Rankings". usnews.com. Archived from the original on May 18, 2017. Retrieved May 18, 2019.
- ^ "College Navigator - Liberty University". nces.ed.gov. Archived from the original on May 21, 2024. Retrieved March 7, 2024.
- ^ "Colors & Fonts". Liberty University. Archived from the original on May 13, 2019. Retrieved May 13, 2019.
- ^ "What We Believe". Residential. Liberty University. July 11, 2023. Archived from the original on September 25, 2023. Retrieved September 9, 2023.
- ^ McDonald, Michael (February 26, 2013). "God a Click Away as Web Courses Fuel Falwell's College". Bloomberg Business. Archived from the original on March 18, 2017. Retrieved March 8, 2017.
- ^ Jenkins, Jack (April 27, 2018). "Liberty University is no longer the largest Christian university". Religion News Service. Archived from the original on May 25, 2018. Retrieved May 27, 2018.
- ^ "Liberty University's Rawlings School of Divinity". Liberty.edu. Archived from the original on January 29, 2013. Retrieved February 28, 2022.
- ^ "Liberty University Quick Facts". Liberty University. Archived from the original on October 5, 2017. Retrieved January 11, 2019.
- ^ "Liberty University, A way of life for spiritual and intellectual development". SecureFist. Archived from the original on August 27, 2017. Retrieved August 27, 2017.
- ^ Montet, Virginie (March 10, 2010). "US creationists unswayed by evolution exhibition". The Daily Telegraph. London. ISSN 0307-1235. Archived from the original on February 15, 2019. Retrieved February 15, 2019.
- ^ Seltzer, Rick (November 1, 2017). "Jerry Falwell Jr. relishes new fight for Donald Trump as Liberty University peaks". Archived from the original on April 24, 2018. Retrieved June 14, 2018.
- ^ Chumney, Richard (October 3, 2020). "Liberty University enrollment spikes, despite statewide drop in new college students". News & Advance. Archived from the original on August 23, 2021. Retrieved August 23, 2021.
- ^ Cite error: The named reference
Anderson_2013was invoked but never defined (see the help page). - ^ "Liberty Moving to Conference USA for 2023-24 Season". Liberty Flames. November 5, 2021. Archived from the original on October 31, 2022. Retrieved October 31, 2022.
- ^ MacGillis, Alec (April 17, 2018). "How Liberty University Built a Billion-Dollar Empire Online". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Archived from the original on April 22, 2018. Retrieved April 24, 2018.
- ^ "The Liberty Way" (PDF). Liberty University. October 2022. Archived from the original (PDF) on April 7, 2023.
- ^ Boorstein, Michelle (March 25, 2015). "Here's why Liberty University has become a pilgrimage site for GOP candidates". The Washington Post. ISSN 0190-8286. Archived from the original on April 24, 2018. Retrieved April 24, 2018.
- ^ Strauss, Valerie (October 30, 2015). "The world's largest Christian university relaxes some rules for students". The Washington Post. ISSN 0190-8286. Archived from the original on April 24, 2018. Retrieved April 24, 2018.
- ^ Cite error: The named reference
Anderson_2015was invoked but never defined (see the help page).