Jerry Falwell, Jr. was forced to respond to recent attacks by The New York Times on the Christian university.
The New York Times falsely reported that 12 students were sick with coronavirus on campus and that the university was irresponsible with its coronavirus response.
President Falwell hit back twice as hard.
Prime example of why you never believe anything @nytimes says about @LibertyU. Complete liars. https://t.co/blA4rokPd4
— Jerry Falwell (@JerryFalwellJr) March 29, 2020
The campus even published an official response to the latest NY Times hit piece.
Here’s the official statement of @LibertyU. (5/5) https://t.co/ojGL3O3hrT
— Jerry Falwell (@JerryFalwellJr) March 30, 2020
The campus stayed open for adult students who concluded the campus would be the safest place to be.
Why is that controversial?
What if you had a sick family member? Did the NY Times want you to stay at home?
The only Liberty students that are here are adult students who have concluded that this is the only place they have or safest and best place to be, among what may be limited options. (3/5)
— Jerry Falwell (@JerryFalwellJr) March 26, 2020
The Washington Times reported:
The New York Times published a false and misleading story on March 29 claiming that Liberty University “students started getting sick” after students returned to campus from spring break. The Times attributed this erroneous conclusion about 12 students with symptoms to a local doctor who has consulted with Liberty. The truth is a far different story. Both the numbers and the sequencing are wrong.
Dr. Thomas Eppes, who was quoted in the Times’ story, denies he ever told the reporter that Liberty had about a dozen students were sick with symptoms that suggest COVID-19. He gave figures for testing and self-isolation that are consistent with Liberty’s numbers but the New York Times preferred to go forward with sensational click-bait that increases traffic. Many news organizations are now following the Times’ lead.
At about 12:30 pm on Sunday afternoon, a New York Times reporter emailed a university spokesperson with a list of 12 questions to be answered for a story that was going to run in the paper on Monday. About 20 minutes later, she wrote to say that the story would go online in a few hours. Liberty immediately began gathering specific answers to all the questions, President Falwell called the reporter and gave her an interview, providing the information he had. The story was posted at 3:00 pm but unfortunately contained several errors.
Contrary to the Times’ reporting, Liberty is not aware of any students in its residence halls testing positive for COVID-19 or, in fact, being tested at all, much less any residence hall students having sufficient symptoms of COVID-19 prompting the need to get tested based on current CDC guidelines.
The University promptly provided the reporter detailed numbers on the student cases and requested corrections. A minor addition to the story was made but the overall false impression is left. So the University is offering the facts in this statement.
https://twitter.com/WScottLamb/status/1245006674475220997
The Washington Times reported:
Liberty University officials angrily denied a new press report claiming nearly a dozen students were showing symptoms of COVID-19 after President Jerry Falwell Jr. allowed students to return to residence halls following spring break.
The decision to partially reopen the Lynchburg, Virginia, school and allow students into the dorms has provoked a storm of controversy with local officials, but school officials Monday were standing their ground.
Mr. Falwell called the New York Times “complete liars” on Twitter, tweeting that readers can “never believe anything” written about the private Christian university.“@LibertyU is being supportive and embracing its responsibility to care for students instead of running away and pushing the COVID problem off on others,” Mr. Falwell tweeted Sunday after the Times article was published. “LU is blessed that we have no cases on campus but is committed to providing proper care regardless of what happens!”
Mr. Falwell made the decision to move residential classes online while students were on spring break, following a week of criticism and questions. But residential students living in on campus dorms were given the option to return to campus if they desired.
