The Great Smoky Mountain Journal
Staff Reports
Posted: Sunday, January 21, 2018 11:24 AM
FAITH: Liberty University President Dismisses Complaints From Small Group Angry Over His Support For President Trump
The graduates, who reportedly organized after the racial unrest in Charlottesville, Virginia, say they plan on returning their diplomas in protest.
“I’m sending my diploma back because the president of the United States is defending Nazis and white supremacists,” 2006 graduate Chris Gaumer told NPR. “And in defending the president’s comments, Jerry Falwell, Jr. is making himself, and it seems to me, the university he represents, complicit.”
To be clear, President Trump denounced all those who committed acts of violence at Charlottesville – including the Antifa protestors who attacked police officers and members of the news media. The president later condemned the Ku Klux Klan, neo-Nazis and white supremacists by name.
“The truth as stated by @realdonaldtrump is that violent white supremacists, Nazi, KKK and similar hate groups are pure evil and un-American,” Falwell tweeted in support of the president.
It’s hard to understand why a handful of miffed college graduates would take issue with Falwell’s tweet or his support for the president.
“We’re asking that Liberty University return to its stated values and accept that the pursuit of power is leading it into some dark places, and really repudiate that,” 2006 alum Georgia Hamann told NPR.
Falwell told me on my nationally syndicated radio program that he’s not terribly bothered by the angst-driven grads.
“It’s a joke. It’s grandstanding, that’s all it is,” Falwell said.
And for the sake of full disclosure – I’ve spoken at Liberty University’s Convocation service twice.
And it’s been my impression that a majority of the students actually support President Trump.
Todd Starnes is host of Fox News & Commentary. His latest book is “The Deplorables’ Guide to Making America Great Again.” Follow him on Twitter @ToddStarnes and find him on Facebook.