Liberty University President Jerry Falwell, Jr. spoke with WLNI MorningLine about what the upcoming Flames’ football season will look like, and Liberty’s return-to-school plan for students.
Transcript
Brian Wiegand
And so long as we’re talking about sports Let’s ask about football Liberty one of a pretty well provisioning school a place with ball has it’s a schedule up in the air right now we’ve seen what the ACC is going to do with 10 conference games, each team on the ACC gets one out of conference game against an in state school, which will lead me to ask you we’re gonna open up the season Liberty at Virginia Tech is a game still gonna happen?
Jerry Fallwell Jr.
Now, I don’t know. But I do know that there’s a lot of independent schools that are talking about the Independent Colleges. There’s about eight or 10 of them playing each other putting our putting our own schedule together, mom with with Independent Colleges. One of them is part of the Texas a&m system. There’s army there’s, there’s BYU there’s others that are we’re all in camp. We’re in conversations with them now. Because it is conferences only playing each other and So it’s still up in the air, but you can’t play a football game if you know how to play, you
Brian Wiegand
know, and I guess the other thing too with the ACC go to that 10 and one that ruin any chances you guys might have had to schedule Notre Dame this season.
Jerry Fallwell Jr.
Yeah, yeah, they’re part they really are considered part of that conference pro football purposes. So they’re probably only going to play the conference. But Sunday was saying.
Brian Wiegand
So let’s talk about bringing students back to campus. You’d said before you want to have everybody back on campus for as close to regular instruction as possible. We’re seeing now UVA has pushed back bringing students back for a couple of weeks. The news story this morning, about 6600 college students have been infected. Going back to campus Randolph college here in Lynchburg is gone all virtual. Any changes to your plans at this point.
Jerry Fallwell Jr.
Now actually, our numbers are through the roof. Our online enrollment is over 100,000 now previous record was 98,000 in 2014. And our resident Roma is the same, same number it was last year this time. So everybody’s coming back. I don’t think young people are at risk. I really don’t. I think I think you know, the ones I’ve talked to have gotten Kevin, they hardly even knew they were sick. And you know, what we’re going to do is we got to protect the older. Our goal is like produce. Our goal is to protect the older staff and faculty members, let them teach behind Plexiglas let them work during the staff members, let them work third shift instead of instead of during the day we go around the kids. And I think that’s the way that like this is to protect people who are at risk and get on with life as usual.
Unknown Speaker
You know, back in the spring when you said that, that that kids were going to be coming back after spring Brake, Liberty received all kinds of criticism from the city. You know, just so it’s just being
Jerry Fallwell Jr.
there waiting for an apology from the mayor and the city manager. haven’t gotten it yet. Because
Unknown Speaker
Because of No, because no, no one tested positive.
Jerry Fallwell Jr.
absolutely zero.
Brian Wiegand
Yep, I’m still here on campus students. So what was Antonio Gandy golden see the only positive test? He lived off campus?
Jerry Fallwell Jr.
Yeah, he never he never had been on campus for weeks and weeks and weeks. And so he got from somebody locally, but I’m still waiting for an apology from the former mayor and city manager. I don’t think she’s Mayor anymore. I think Mary Jane Dylan’s a mayor now. So but I think 20 to 20 was the mayor back when all that happened, and now pilots still haven’t gotten that.
Unknown Speaker
It is Liberty you mentioned you’re trying to to protect the most vulnerable, but does that mean that other than, say, older professors teaching behind Plex Glass is it just is it business as usual just classrooms as usual in students all in the cafeteria together as usual.
Jerry Fallwell Jr.
protocols are you have to go online to see it, but they’ve got videos up and they they’ve got all kinds of special procedures in place for for the food service. And so they their separate company and they they’re taking every precaution possible and we are going to do the same like we did the spring and we had great success in the spring. And it’s you know, I’m sure that many people there may be some cases from but we’re, we’re we have to protect the at risk population. And that’s going to be our main goal.
Unknown Speaker
Yeah. What if there were an outbreak would you be prepared to do things differently if that happens
Jerry Fallwell Jr.
for young people now I really, really think young people. I think they have the right immune system. I don’t think that the air risk at all, but we are going to protect the ones who are
Unknown Speaker
concerned that the young people would then go home though for their Thanksgiving break or whenever and they’re going to be around parents and grandparents, people who are at risk.
Jerry Fallwell Jr.
Yeah, it was, well, maybe they don’t know how maybe what, maybe what we’ll do is just not have any breaks during the summer.
Brian Wiegand
That’s gonna go over really well.
Unknown Speaker
When you say maybe, I mean, are you talking cheek or
Jerry Fallwell Jr.
Seriously? Now a lot of schools are doing that. They’re saying, okay, no fall break.
Brian Wiegand
Just go through November.
Jerry Fallwell Jr.
Just go home. Yeah, the end of November, send them home. And then then they’re on their own, but it’s just that’s something we’re considering, but that I’m not the expert. I’m not a medical expert, but those are the kind of things that our people are talking about.
Unknown Speaker
Liberty president Jerry Falwell, Jr. Thanks for joining us this morning. We’ll be talking to you again soon. Congratulations
Jerry Fallwell Jr.
again.
Unknown Speaker
Thank you. All right. Bye bye.
Transcribed by https://otter.ai
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