Posted on 08/19/2006 7:37:01 AM PDT by WVNan
FALWELL CONFIDENTIAL
Insider weekly newsletter to The Moral Majority Coalition and
The Liberty Alliance http://www.moralmajority.com
From: Jerry Falwell
Date: August 18, 2006
UCLA, Cornell and Liberty
In 1971, I started Liberty University (then Lynchburg Baptist College) because of a dream I believe God planted in my heart. In our first year, we had 154 students and four faculty members, including me. Many people said my dream was an impossible one. But I continued to believe that God had directed me to initiate an institution of higher learning where academic excellence, athletic competition at the highest level and Judeo-Christian values could co-exist.
And today, it does indeed exist.
As I write, we are preparing to open classes for just our thirty-sixth year on our campus, known as Liberty Mountain. More than $5 billion has been raised privately and invested in the creation and operation of Liberty. We now have a 5,000-acre campus with state-of-the-art facilities. This year, we will welcome about 10,000 resident students to campus, while another 15,000 students worldwide are studying through our external programs. We have recruited a faculty of 650 brilliant Christian men and women who see their profession as a calling, not just a job. And, in our first 35 years, we have produced more than 122,000 alumni who are today impacting their communities worldwide.
I don’t report this in order to boast. In fact, I continue to be in awe that God chose me to manage such a high calling.
But, if my readers will excuse me, I do wish to brag just a bit more about Liberty because of some very significant news.
On news stands this week, U.S. News & World Report’s 2007 edition of “America’s Best Colleges” highlights three universities: UCLA, Cornell and Liberty. It is truly an honor for Liberty to be featured in this manner, especially when one considers that Cornell (which started in 1865) and UCLA (which started in 1919) have been around for so long.
The USN&WR article, titled “They Pray as they Go,” is very complimentary. It underscores Liberty’s rules (no co-ed dorms, no drinking or smoking, etc.) and features interviews with some of our students and faculty, including Dr. Ergun Caner who calls an education at Liberty “Green Beret training for Christians.”
The article also focuses on things that make Liberty unique: dorm prayer groups, a Christian environment (even in the classroom) and our university debate team (which is number-one in the nation in all three national debate tournament polls, which no other school has ever achieved).
Some may be amazed that, in just thirty-five years, Liberty has risen to such a prominent position in the world of higher education. But I’m not surprised. Yes, we’ve had our fair share of challenges and dilemmas, primarily financial ones. But God, in His sovereignty, has placed people in our midst who have endowed Liberty.
People like Art and Angela Williams, Drs. Tim and Beverly LaHaye, Hobby Lobby CEO David Green and others have played significant roles in helping to build this university and secure its future.
Another great feature of Liberty is its diversity. With no quotas or affirmative action in place, we will welcome this fall students reflecting many cultures, backgrounds and ethnicities. In fact, our student body includes young people from 83 nations. Our students are connected by one common goal: to impact the world with the Gospel of Jesus Christ.
As a result, Liberty continues to rapidly grow. This summer, we built five new apartment-style dorms which house 420 students. We will quickly begin more new dorms this fall and are mapping out designs to open more classroom space.
As you can see, like a proud papa, I like to crow about Liberty. In fact, those interested in learning more about Liberty can visit the school’s website (www.liberty.edu) or give us a call (800-424-9596). For Christian young people in America, Liberty is a great place to learn, grow and discover a vision for your future.
Readers who would like to see the article in full should purchase the 2007 edition of “America’s Best Colleges,” now on news stands.
I'll have to ask her. I didn't know there was a housing development going right there. That's not good for her neighborhood if so; she lives only a block and a half or so off Timberlake and a development will make the insane traffic on Timberlake even worse.
Actually I grew up in Amherst. When I moved back to Lynchburg in '90 after a stint outside DC I lived in Walden Pond apartments off Lakeside (and worked at a computer reseller along US 221 near Graves Mill Road), then moved down here to Richmond, South Carolina, and back to Richmond. I'm still amazed at all the growth along the Wards Road/Candler's Mountain Road corridor and around the LU area--and even more amazed that after talking about it for twenty-five years, they've FINALLY bypassed Madison Heights on US 29 North!
But with all due respect to Rev. Falwell and what he's done, it's not "Liberty Mountain." It's Candler's Mountain, and always will be. :)
You were there in 88-89. I graduated from LC in 89 and my son graduated from Heritage HS the same year. Our graduations were a week apart. That fall I entered Union Theological Seminary in Richmond. In 1990 I was tired of commuting and hubby and son moved to campus where we lived in the student apts. After I received my M.Div in 93, we moved to W.Va.
Yes, it seems that the success of conservative colleges may encourage more colleges to change the status quo.
Congratulations to your daughter for choosing Liberty U. Yes,I know how much LC has grown since we left. I get all the mailings from them. I've been back to Lynchburg a couple of times and I know that it is growing. We lived on Leavelwoods Drive. I did not know about the skating rink, law school and wellness center at TRBC. And I remember Rivermont Presb. Ch. My membership and Oversight Committee was at Laurel Grove Presb. near Bedford.
I really loved living in Lynchburg. It was a nice town to raise children in. My son Played the Quads in the Big Orange Heritage HS Band. I guess Lynchburg was the closest thing he ever had to a "hometown". He still has friends there, as do I.
Congratulations on choosing LU for your daughter. I pray that she will benefit from her experience there. You, her parents, will be able to breathe a bit easier knowing that she is being watched over more closely and is receiving the "Green Beret training for Christians."
My older son lived in Forest for several years before moving to Boone, N.C. My friends, Darrell Larant and his wife Gail live in Forest. You may recognize him as a columnist for the local newspaper.
I remember Walden Pond Apts. off Lakeside. I'm forgetting a lot of the names and you guys are jarring some memories. My daughter was the manager of the restaurant on the corner near the women's college and I'm trying to recall the name of both the reataurant and the college. Old age ain't fun.
About two years ago, an Associate Pastor from my church return to Liberty (his alam mater) to become Director of Leadership and Educational Ministries. Then a few months ago my Senior Pastor returned (also his alma mater) to become a professor. Also, current dean of students, Ergun Caner (author of Islam Unveiled) is also from the same town near Columbus. God Bless them all.
Try $35-40 thousand a year or even more. It's gotten pretty ridiculous.
There's a book out now that lists the 10 colleges that are the most conservative. I think Baylor was one of them. There's still hope.
There's a book out now that lists the 10 colleges that are the most conservative. I think Baylor was one of them. There's still hope.
You may be thinking of T.J. Trotter's on Rivermont near Randolph-Macon Women's College? There's also a bar near there called (I think) The Cavalier. I had some friends that worked in networking at RMWC for a couple of years, and since my grandmother lived down along the river in Reusens, we'd end up driving Rivermont Avenue all the way from downtown over to VES Road, then down VES to the river every few Sundays to go visit her. Rivermont is one of the neatest stretches of road anywhere, I think, especially if you're into architecture and houses. Some of the old places in the area between downtown and RMWC are just amazing (although largely converted into apartments nowadays).
I've always said that Lynchburg is a great place to raise kids...but your kids will hate you for it. :) It's changed a good bit in the thirteen years since I moved out, but it's never been a "happening" place or had a lot to do for teenagers (which can be both good and bad). The primary pastime always used to be just cruising up and down Wards Road on Friday nights, for hours. Back and forth, back and forth. The police have really cracked down on that, though.
}:-)4
It truly is. I live and work in Lynchburg, having moved here in 1987. The bottom line is the quality of kids he turns out, and our company, like most companies in Lynchburg, tries to hire them every chance we get.
Liberty is not a party school, their grads have disciplines already ingrained that we have to spend time instilling in other college grads. Perhaps their best quality is that they embrace capitalism without the "hesitations" and baggage instilled in students on liberal campi.
Incidentally, Randolph Macon Woman's College just decided to go co-ed. Virtually all the alumni are against the move, and the issue has garnered headlines for the last few weeks here in town. The board claims it is a financial necessity. There is no more PC, left-leaning school that I know of, perhaps that is why support is waning?
YES! T.J. Trotters. My daughter was manager there for a few years early 80s. Thank you for jogging my memory. Randolph-Macon too. Funny how names will escape your memory when you are away a lot. Yes, my youngest was part of that cruising on Wards Road. We lived only a block or two from Wards Rd. He loved Lynchburg, as did I.
That is an interesting bit of information. Never thought I would see the day when that school went co-ed. Upper crust and all that. You moved there when I was at LC. We moved to Richmond in 90 and to WV in 93.
The Big Talk in LA is how USC has passed UCLA on the average SAT scores for incoming freshmen for the first time ever.....I think it is a tossup on the hot chicks though.....$6000 tuition a year vs $33000 a year...but both schools admit that the publicity from the football program has led to a flood of applications to attend USC.
Our university here increases every year. It costs almost $40,000 a year to go here. They just built beautiful new apartment complexes on the main route coming into town. These kids have it good. We have virtually no parking space on the hill. They've forbidden all but seniors to park on campus but you know how that goes. The faculty and staff have real problems finding room to park.
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