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| Jerry Falwell Jr. Taking Leave of Absence From Liberty University | |
| (32 minutes later) | |
| Jerry Falwell Jr., one of President Trump’s most prominent and controversial evangelical supporters, agreed on Friday to take an indefinite leave of absence from his role as president and chancellor of Liberty University. | Jerry Falwell Jr., one of President Trump’s most prominent and controversial evangelical supporters, agreed on Friday to take an indefinite leave of absence from his role as president and chancellor of Liberty University. |
| The executive committee of the university’s Board of Trustees made the request on behalf of the entire board, according to a news release from the university. | The executive committee of the university’s Board of Trustees made the request on behalf of the entire board, according to a news release from the university. |
| The statement gave no reason for the request, but the news comes days after Mr. Falwell posted, and then deleted, a photograph on Instagram with his pants unzipped and his arm around a woman. | |
| Mr. Falwell did not immediately respond to a request for comment. | |
| Mr. Falwell responded to the photo earlier this week in an interview with WLNI, a local Lynchburg radio station. “Yeah, it was weird. She’s pregnant. She couldn’t get her pants zipped and I was like trying to like… I had on a pair of jeans I haven’t worn in a long time and couldn’t get zipped either. So, I just put my belly out like hers. She’s my wife’s assistant she’s a sweetheart. I should have never put it up and embarrassed her. I’ve apologized to everybody. I promised my kids I will try to be a good boy from here on out.” | |
| Students from Liberty University expressed outrage about the photo on social media. Several pointed out that it was in direct violation of the school’s code of conduct. | |
| Under the Falwell family’s leadership, Liberty has grown in five decades from a modest Baptist college to an evangelical powerhouse with cash investments and endowments of nearly $2 billion, nearly 46,000 undergraduates and a campus that sprawls across Lynchburg and neighboring counties in Virginia. | Under the Falwell family’s leadership, Liberty has grown in five decades from a modest Baptist college to an evangelical powerhouse with cash investments and endowments of nearly $2 billion, nearly 46,000 undergraduates and a campus that sprawls across Lynchburg and neighboring counties in Virginia. |
| The university was founded by Mr. Falwell’s father as a bastion of social conservatism, one that was unabashedly combative as it trained what it called “Champions for Christ.” | The university was founded by Mr. Falwell’s father as a bastion of social conservatism, one that was unabashedly combative as it trained what it called “Champions for Christ.” |
| Will Wright contributed reporting. |