Jerry Falwell Jr. resigns as Liberty University president
Under fire for an alleged sex scandal, the embattled Jerry Falwell Jr. has submitted his resignation as head of Liberty University, school officials said Tuesday – less than 24 hours after Falwell denied he was leaving the evangelical institution.
Liberty’s board of trustees accepted his resignation Tuesday, effective immediately, the university said in a statement, after receiving a resignation letter from Falwell late Monday night.
His resignation marks an ignominious end to his 13-year run as Liberty president that began when his televangelist father who founded the university, The Rev. Jerry Falwell, Sr., died in 2007. Falwell also resigned from Liberty’s board of directors.
“I am so encouraged by the unity of Christ that I saw exemplified by our Board today,” Liberty’s Acting Board Chairman Dr. Allen McFarland said. “Liberty University’s future is very bright and in capable hands of leaders who are committed to being good stewards of what the Lord has entrusted!”
His departure came after a dramatic public zig-zag on Monday between Liberty’s board of trustees and Falwell, an ardent and early supporter of President Donald Trump. It began when Reuters published an interview Monday with a man who said he had a yearslong sexual relationship with the evangelical leader’s wife, Becki Falwell, with her husband’s consent and encouragement.
Following that story, Falwell initially agreed to resign as president on Monday, then changed his mind after seeing media reports, the university said. He then told the Wall Street Journal late Monday that he had resigned after all.
Falwell told the newspaper he decided to resign because he wants “what’s best for the university, and I don’t want to harm the future of the university.”
Falwell called his resignation “a relief” in an interview with the Lynchburg-based newspaper The News and Advance on Tuesday, adding, “The quote that keeps going through my mind this morning is Martin Luther Ling Jr: ‘free at last, free at last, thank God almighty I’m free at last.
“I see a role in other areas, I don’t know what it is yet but I’m not done,” he said. “This happened for a reason.”
Liberty’s executive committee and board of trustees met Tuesday morning. Falwell will receive severance compensation dictated by the terms of his contract, the university said. Officials did not disclose an amount.
“Our students are ready to be world changers as Champions for Christ,” said Jerry Prevo, who will stay on as acting president. “Their spirit is strong as they look to the future. I intend to do all I can to nurture their spiritual side as they grow academically and enjoy all our campus has to offer.”
Giancarlo Granda told Reuters he met Jerry and Becki Falwell while working as a pool attendant at the Fontainebleau Miami Beach hotel in March 2012. Starting that month and continuing into 2018, Granda told Reuters, the relationship involved him having sex with Becki Falwell while Jerry Falwell watched.
“Becki and I developed an intimate relationship and Jerry enjoyed watching from the corner of the room,” Granda told Reuters. He said his relationship with the Falwells began when he was 20 and their sexual encounters occurred “multiple times per year” at hotels and at the Falwells’ home in Virginia.
Falwell’s attorney, Michael Bowe, told Reuters that the evangelical leader “categorically denies” the allegations made by Granda.
But before Reuters published its story, Falwell released a statement to the Washington Examiner, a conservative newspaper, acknowledging his wife’s extramarital affair.
“During a vacation over eight years ago, Becki and I met an ambitious young man who was working at our hotel and was saving up his money to go to school,” Falwell said in the statement.