As Tension Mounts Over His Support of Trump, Liberty U.’s Falwell Stands Firm

Chris Tyree for The Chronicle

Under fire for his support of Donald J. Trump’s presidential campaign, Jerry L. Falwell Jr., the president of Liberty University, said in an interview Thursday that he has no regrets about entering the political fray and fully supports Mr. Trump, who has been dogged by new allegations that he made inappropriate sexual advances on women. Mr. Trump has vehemently denied those charges, and Liberty’s president says he believes the candidate.

Mr. Falwell, whose father, the late Rev. Jerry Falwell Sr., spent most of his life in the political arena, has emerged this election season as a new face of Christian evangelicalism. His support of Mr. Trump, who in recent days apologized for years ago making lewd comments about grabbing women’s genitals, has brought tension to a campus where residential students are explicitly barred from “unwelcome touching or any touching of a sexual nature.”

Mr. Falwell has made clear that he speaks for himself, not the university, in his support of Mr. Trump. But as the university president becomes a more visible surrogate for the campaign, each new accusation against or revelation about Mr. Trump stands to put Liberty on the defensive. Mr. Falwell says he is not too concerned about damaging the institution’s reputation.

Liberty’s president is in frequent contact with Mr. Trump, who called Mr. Falwell Wednesday night, shortly after several women came forward with allegations that, years ago, Mr. Trump touched or kissed them inappropriately. The two men spoke again Thursday.

“He said, ‘Jerry, this is the craziest thing I’ve ever heard. I promise you you’re not going to have anything to be embarrassed about,’” Mr. Falwell said.

Mr. Trump went on to say that he had “proof” the accusers were not being truthful, Liberty’s president said. Mr. Trump did not go into detail about what that meant.

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Amid heightened tensions over the campaign, a student group called Liberty United Against Trump issued a statement late Wednesday condemning both Mr. Trump for his actions and Mr. Falwell for his continued support of the candidate. In a rare public disagreement over presidential politics between a university president and his students, Mr. Falwell fired back with his own statement, calling the group’s charges “false in several respects.”

While expressing pride in the students for speaking out, he took issue with their assertion that the “majority” of Liberty professors, staff members and students are not supporting Mr. Trump. He cited as evidence the warm reception that Mike Pence, Mr. Trump’s running mate, received when he spoke at the university on Wednesday.

“It is true that Donald Trump lost in the Virginia primary at Liberty’s precinct when there were many Republican candidates still in the race,” Mr. Falwell’s statement said, “but when Mike Pence spoke to many thousands of students at Liberty yesterday, he was applauded when he spoke of the importance of supporting Donald Trump for president. In fact, he received five standing ovations during his speech.”

Liberty’s president said he did not intend to appear at loggerheads with his own students. “That wasn’t meant to be a squabble,” he said. “They were just wrong about those things.”

Dustin Wahl, a student at Liberty and a leader of Liberty United Against Trump, said in an interview Thursday that more than 1,000 students have signed on to the statement. He said he wrote it on behalf of students who are “frustrated and ashamed” of their president. Even though Mr. Falwell asserts that he speaks only as a private citizen, his repeated endorsements of a candidate so compromised as Mr. Trump tarnishes the image of the university, Mr. Wahl said.

“President Jerry Falwell Jr. has been a loud endorser, a very public force for the Trump campaign, and it looks to a lot of people like he’s representing Liberty in doing that,” Mr. Wahl said. “Occasionally he’ll say, ‘Well, this doesn’t reflect the views of my school, these are just my personal views,’ but when he goes on the news with ‘Liberty University’ in bold letters behind his head, it sends a pretty clear message.”

Tax-Status Considerations

As a tax-exempt 501(c)(3) organization, Liberty University is prohibited from participating in political activities on behalf of or in opposition to any candidate for elective public office. The law gives Mr. Falwell the right, however, to endorse a candidate so long as he does not use university resources or state his political opinions in official university communications.

Mr. Falwell says he has been careful to follow these rules, relying on the advice of his general counsel. When he does television interviews from a university studio, for example, the news affiliate pays for the time, he says. Mr. Falwell pays his son out of pocket to handle news media inquiries, he says, and he paid for his own travel to the Republican National Convention. (The party, he says, covered the cost of his hotel room).

Nonetheless, Mr. Falwell’s high-profile position as a Trump surrogate invites scrutiny from the IRS, several experts on private nonprofit organizations told The Chronicle Thursday. If Liberty pays the president while he is on the campaign trail, for example, the university is effectively compensating an executive to engage in political activity, said Marcus S. Owens, former director of the IRS exempt organizations division.

“It’s a question of whether he’s on administrative leave or taking personal time when he makes the statements,” Mr. Owens said. “There is a fair amount of precedent for the IRS finding those factors important.”

Mr. Falwell says his political activities are not eating into his duties at Liberty.

“I do the interviews in the car on the way home, or I run over to the studio for a few minutes,” he said. “But I don’t play golf; I don’t spend a lot of time with recreation. I’m working pretty much the whole time I’m awake.”

Despite his reported care in not using university resources in support of the campaign, Mr. Falwell could be accused of expending Liberty assets if his participation damages the university’s reputation, another expert said.

“One has to protect the right of an individual to engage in political speech, but not to co-opt university assets, including the intangible intellectual property of the good name of Liberty University as a Christian school,” said Frances R. Hill, a law professor at the University of Miami.

“If I were a trustee at Liberty University, I would be looking into this,” she continued. “I would consider it my fiduciary duty to look into what in fact is going on.”

Violations of the ban on political activity could lead to fines or, in extreme cases, a loss of tax-exempt status. But none of the experts with whom The Chronicle spoke saw that as particularly likely at Liberty.

Mr. Trump and Mr. Pence have both spoken at Liberty. The university has extended an invitation to Hillary Clinton, the Democratic nominee, in keeping with federal requirements that all major candidates be given an opportunity to speak when nonprofit organizations host such events, Mr. Falwell said. Bernie Sanders, the senator from Vermont who challenged Mrs. Clinton for the party’s nomination, spoke at the university in 2015. Gary Johnson, the Libertarian nominee, is slated to speak at Liberty on Monday.

A Flawed Candidate

The toughest issue for Mr. Falwell is likely not IRS enforcement, but rather the message his support for Mr. Trump may send to students. Women have been particularly offended by Mr. Trump’s lewd comments, and developments this week have heightened some voters’ concerns that the candidate has groped and kissed other women without their consent. Mr. Trump has called the charges nothing more than “false smears.”

Mr. Falwell readily concedes that Mr. Trump is a flawed candidate, but one worthy of redemption and forgiveness. Asked if he would tell his students that Mr. Trump is a man worthy of emulation, the president says, “He wouldn’t be the best choice to be a pastor or to be the head of a Christian university or to be a counselor. He’s a different type of role model. He’s a role model in a sense that he will be a good president.”

Mr. Falwell finds far greater fault in Mrs. Clinton, who has been criticized for supporting efforts to discredit women who accused her husband, former President Bill Clinton, of inappropriate sexual conduct.

“I’d be a lot more worried if I was supporting Hillary,” Mr. Falwell says. “I’d have a lot more trouble explaining that to female students.”

Nadia Dreid contributed to this report.

Jack Stripling covers college leadership, particularly presidents and governing boards. Follow him on Twitter @jackstripling, or email him at jack.stripling@chronicle.com.