Several staff and faculty members told me they fear sanctions should they publicly disagree with Falwell; none agreed to be named. But they claimed that Falwell Jr.’s growing political advocacy has been accompanied by a clampdown on speech on Liberty’s campus.
Like Trump, Falwell has taken a number of divisive positions, undeterred by broader disapproval. When Falwell became one of the first major evangelical leaders to endorse Donald Trump for president, one of the school’s longtime donors, Mark Demoss, resigned from Liberty’s board of trustees. Falwell shrugged it off.
