Liberty University Update

[bb_baptist]

DATE: May 16, 2003
FROM: Jerry Falwell

Last weekend, on May 10, more than 11.000 people filled the Liberty University Vines Center as Liberty conducted its 30th commencement exercises for the class of 2003, increasing our alumni family to 69,504. Dr. Adrian Rogers, pastor of the historic Bellevue Baptist Church in Memphis, Tenn., brought a powerful challenge to the graduates. This is an amazing and God-inspired accomplishment for a school only 32 years old.

In our brief 32-year history, God has provided many incredible blessings, including the provision of over $3 billion, which has made possible a 4,421-acre campus with more than 75 edifices, plus the recent acquisition of an 888,000-square-foot multiplex that adjoins the main campus. God has also sent us a distinguished Christian faculty - all committed to Christ, an inerrant Bible and a Christian worldview - and a community of many thousands of young people who are intent on impacting this world for Christ as pastors, physicians, attorneys, journalists, missionaries, scientists, business leaders, educators and Christian leaders.

During graduation weekend, the Liberty University Board of Trustees met on campus to re-write and strengthen our by-laws and constitution in order to assure that Liberty's doctrinal and spiritual future remains pure for the generations to come. Every professor, whether teaching biology or theology, believes the Bible is the Word of God. All of our NCAA Division 1 coaches are committed followers of Christ. The use of alcohol, tobacco and drugs by faculty, staff and students is still not allowed. There are no co-ed dorms. And immoral behavior is not allowed, on or off campus.

Liberty continues to be intentionally different.

Dr. Jerry Prevo, newly-elected chairman of the Liberty University Board of Trustees, and Dr. Bailey Smith, the new chairman of the Liberty University Executive Committee, will provide solid leadership for the next three years.

Liberty owes a huge debt of gratitude to prominent businessman Harvey Gainey and publicist Mark DeMoss for the brilliant, godly and dedicated leadership they provided in those posts during the past three years.

I was pleased to report to our board that Christian young people worldwide are hungering to come to Liberty, as never before. In fact, because of present space limitations, Liberty can accept only 3,200 freshmen this fall. (We enrolled 2,600 new students last fall.) We have notified our current list of 11,177 applicants for the 2003 freshman class that our enrollment process will soon be frozen as soon as the first 3,200 students have completed their enrollment.

While our potential for growth is mind-boggling, I believe we are growing as rapidly (and as prudently) as we can. Construction is presently underway on state-of-the-art apartment-style dormitories as I write this column and we are feverishly finishing new construction on other facilities.

I am prayerfully believing that in the near future - hopefully while I am alive to see it - that Liberty will be simultaneously educating 25,000 resident students and 25,000 external students ... a grand total of 50,000 students in a world-class and distinctively Christian university.

 

[TomVols]

People laughed when Jerry Falwell got up and announced that he'd someday field a fully accredited university of national prominence with NCAA Division I athletics. Say what you will...he cast a huge vision that has come to fruition.

 

[Major B]

I earned my M.A.R. through Liberty. the courses were tough, and as good as the faculty is, the "video professors" are better, including such lights as J.P. Moreland teaching Apologetics. Not only that, but Liberty has started a trend, as several established and accredited seminaries and schools with grad programs are offering non-traditional education (Reformed, Moody, etc.).

 

[bb_baptist]

Originally posted by TomVols:
People laughed when Jerry Falwell got up and announced that he'd someday field a fully accredited university of national prominence with NCAA Division I athletics. Say what you will...he cast a huge vision that has come to fruition.

Liberty adds a law school this fall

It is my privilege to introduce you to Liberty University School of Law, a national Christian law school with convictions, committed to training America’s future leaders in law and public policy. We are a new law school but our convictions are rooted in antiquity and shaped by the transcendent. Our objective is to build a law school committed to academic and professional excellence in the context of the Christian intellectual tradition. We invite all individuals who desire such an education to become part of this groundbreaking effort.

If the rigorous study of law in such a context interests you, here is what you may expect at Liberty University School of Law:

A commitment to academic and professional excellence. Liberty University has a vision for and a history of building a premier undergraduate and graduate institution. If you study law at Liberty University, you may expect to be integrated into an educational community founded on academic excellence and knowledgeable concerning the requirements of educational success. Meeting new challenges in a tradition of academic excellence is at the heart of the Liberty University experience.

An appreciation for the Western legal tradition and the rule of law. At Liberty University School of Law you will study the writing of those who shaped the Western Legal Tradition from Augustine to Thomas Aquinas to William Blackstone, along with other leaders who profoundly impacted the American legal system. You will learn not only legal history, but you will also experience a rigorous teaching regimen designed to equip you with the means of analysis so critical to perpetuating legal principle and the rule of law. You will grapple with Augustine’s City of God, Thomas Aquinas’ Summa Theologica, and Blackstone’s Commentaries on the Laws of England, learning to build analysis and thought on convictions arising from deep and abiding principles recognized through the centuries.

An uncompromising dedication to the Christian intellectual tradition. Liberty University School of Law is committed to providing an outstanding legal education in fidelity to the Christian faith expressed through the Holy Scriptures. The administration and faculty will pursue the highest standards of scholarship and ethics informed by an intellectual tradition that recognizes that certain principles are written on the heart of every person, as well as the fact that true academic freedom comes from a knowledge of the truth.

An allegiance to constitutional interpretivism. At Liberty University School of Law you will have more required courses on the United States Constitution than at other law schools. Although you will be exposed to all theories of constitutional interpretation, the focus of School of Law is to train students in constitutional interpretivism: the view that the nature of judicial power is to state, interpret, and apply the Constitution.

An emphasis on the development of superior communication skills. It is critical that future leaders in law be able to research, analyze, write, and speak effectively. Liberty University School of Law is the only law school in America with required courses in legal research, writing, and advocacy every semester of a student’s law school career. Professional distinction is the goal of Liberty University and a rigorous emphasis on research, writing, and advocacy is a means to such distinction.


If you find these distinctives appealing and provocative, Liberty University School of Law may be the very place to prepare you to be a future leader.

I hope you will consider Liberty University as you seek to determine how best to prepare yourself for a legal vocation. I trust, however, that you will not be drawn to School of Law primarily by images of beautiful buildings and the hint of an idyllic academic experience in the stunning Virginia Blue Ridge Mountains. The buildings are indeed beautiful and the University setting is lovely, but the life found in the School of Law demands the highest degree of intellectual commitment and ability.

Come to Liberty University School of Law because you have convictions, you intend to become a superior attorney and future leader, and you desire a University context that is intellectually challenging, oriented toward skills development, and deeply committed to the integration of law and Christian faith. If that is what you seek, you will not be disappointed at Liberty University.


Bruce W. Green, Th.M., J.D.
Dean

 

[Dr. Bob]

I am proud to have a certificate from Liberty in Pastoral Counseling signed by Jerry, Ed Hinson, and Jay Adams. The more I see and hear from Liberty, the more I realize there is a place for a school such as this.

 

[TomVols]

Major,
Did you find yourself able to exist well in the MAR program, you being Reformed and all?

 

[Major B]

Based on years of study, I "challenged" the two basic theology classes (a grueling process) and passed both without taking the courses. I took "Ecclesiology and Eschatology", but I am basically a progressive dispy, so that was no problem.

Interesting quote from the Gospel of John class taught by Elmer Towns--he said A.W. Pink's commentary on John was the best there is.....I agree, but never expected to hear him say so.

The program was geared to expository preaching.

I would rather have taken the RTS MA, but LU was approved for the GI Bill (had just enough left to finish the degree), and RTS wasn't.

I love my Trinity PhD program--tough but good.

[ June 27, 2003, 12:25 AM: Message edited by: Major B ]

 

[TomVols]

Yeah, the RTS MA looks good, but has very little in terms of practical theology/ministry courses.

Trinity gets it North Central accreditation visit in November.