Liberty University, a Christian institution that enrolls 14,000 students on campus and nearly 100,000 more online, was founded on the principles of evangelism. But on Monday it was the university’s guest, Sen. Bernie Sanders of Vermont, who was preaching his beliefs.
Mr. Sanders is a self-described “democratic socialist” who supports gay marriage, abortion rights, and various other positions that contradict conservative Christian teachings. The presidential hopeful surprised many people this summer when he accepted Liberty’s invitation to take part in a speaker series, joining a parade of conservative icons such as Ronald Reagan’s second education secretary, William J. Bennett, and the Duck Dynasty stars Korie and Sadie Robertson.
“It is easy to go out and talk to people who agree with you,” said Mr. Sanders from the dais at Liberty’s Vines Center, an 8,000-seat arena that moments earlier felt like a rock venue as a student band brought the house to its feet with a soaring pop devotional.
Mr. Sanders received a respectful but lukewarm reaction. The Vermont senator sought to appeal to the university’s Christian sensibilities, saying he admired Liberty’s dedication to the idea of moral courage. He then made several chapter-and-verse biblical references before launching into a speech that focused almost entirely on wealth inequality and economic injustice.
“Put this in the context of the Bible. Not me, but the Bible,” said Mr. Sanders. “We are living in a time where a handful of people have wealth beyond comprehension,” he added, while millions of others are struggling to feed their families, put roofs over their heads, and go to the doctor when they are sick.
“When we talk about morality, and when we talk about justice, we have to, in my view, understand that there is no justice when so few have so much and so many have so little,” said the candidate.
That line, and many others in the senator’s speech, drew sparse applause but mainly poker-face stares from the Liberty students who minutes earlier had been belting along to praise music. Most students seemed to observe Mr. Sanders’s speech at a skeptical but polite distance. The only resistance Mr. Sanders faced came from his own vocal cords, which were frayed from months on the campaign trail.
The biggest cheers of the morning followed the speech, when David Nasser, Liberty’s senior vice president for spiritual development, interviewed Mr. Sanders based on questions students had submitted ahead of time. On racism, Mr. Nasser told the senator, “we would say it’s not so much a skin issue as it is a sin issue,” causing the arena to erupt in applause.
He also challenged Mr. Sanders to defend his position on abortion. “You talk in your campaign about how it is immoral to protect the billionaire class at the expense of the most vulnerable,” especially the children of poor families, said Mr. Nasser. “A majority of Christians would agree with you, but would also go further and say that children in the womb should be protected.”
The standing ovation that followed lasted for 25 seconds.
A Changing Campus
Monday’s event marked the collision of two ambitious, uncompromising institutions that are now facing the prospect of accommodating new constituents in the interest of expanding their influence.
For Mr. Sanders and his spectators in the political class, the speech at Liberty gave a glimpse of how the candidate might fare in conversation with conservatives. For Liberty and its president, Jerry Falwell Jr., it was an opportunity to show how tolerant the university had become.
The university regularly invites liberal candidates to speak here in order to maintain its tax exemption as a nonprofit organization, but Liberty in the past has flinched at the presence of liberal values in its conservative Eden.
In 2009 it retracted its recognition of a student Democratic group that had formed on the campus the previous fall. “The Democratic Party platform is contrary to the mission of Liberty University and to Christian doctrine,” wrote a Liberty official in an email to the group’s president at the time. (The university later said the group could continue operating as an “unofficial” student organization.)
The university still prohibits its residential students from smoking, drinking, swearing, practicing “witchcraft,” and watching most R-rated movies. But Liberty’s vast online expansion in the past decade has presented a challenge to policing student behavior. Its solution has been to develop a separate, less-rigid code of conduct for online students.
In many ways, Ramses Prashad represents how Liberty is changing. Mr. Prashad, 26, plans to enroll at Liberty next semester to pursue an online bachelor’s degree in biblical studies. He lives here in Lynchburg, but wants the flexibility of online learning in case he and his wife move out of town after she graduates from medical school.
Apart from being a nontraditional student, and one of the few black faces in the audience, Mr. Prashad said he doesn’t much go in for politics, but supports Mr. Sanders. “I’m excited that he was willing to come here and try to find middle ground,” said Mr. Prashad before the event.
During his speech, Mr. Sanders conceded no ground on the issues, and his audience seemed largely unmoved. Still, some Liberty students said afterward that they were impressed by the candidate, although not because they agreed with his politics.
They were impressed because he had the guts to bring his unapologetically liberal views to an unapologetically conservative campus. They know a true believer when they see one.
Steve Kolowich writes about how colleges are changing, and staying the same, in the digital age. Follow him on Twitter @stevekolowich, or write to him at steve.kolowich@chronicle.com.
