<p>Just ran across this straight from the LU President comment on the issue. I think he read my posts.
JFJr.:
"Maher is a comedian whose words aren’t meant to be taken seriously, and he’s proven by his parody, once again, that they shouldn’t be. Unfortunately, though, some people do take the man seriously and will likely be deceived by his false statements. </p>
<p>In reality, Liberty is a fully accredited liberal-arts university. With over 90,000 students, it is the largest private, nonprofit university in America, the largest university in Virginia, and maintains more than 275 programs of study, including a fully-accredited School of Law, and a forthcoming School of Medicine. </p>
<p>The same science textbooks are used at Liberty that are used at other major universities. Liberty teaches the theory of evolution as well as the Biblical account of creation (including that the universe could have been created with the appearance of age just as the first man and woman were created as adults) and students make up their own minds on the issue. </p>
<p>Liberty is proudly an institution that adheres to the Judeo-Christian values upon which our nation was founded and upon which millions of Christians have based their lives and beliefs. "</p>
<p>Actually, I pointed it out myself in a post I wrote not too many pages back (but more pages than I’m willing to look to requote it at this point. ;)</p>
<p>I AM rather intolerant of intolerance… IRL as well as on here. Hopefully students I come in contact with will be too (if they aren’t already by the time I meet them).</p>
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<p>I love this quote… thanks for writing it. It is the individual who should matter - not institutions (but I’ll admit to wishing institutions also were tolerant). ;)</p>
<p>And before it gets misunderstood… yes, institutions count when it comes to actual knowledge for some jobs as has been stated…</p>
<p>Barrons—So do you think that Liberty is now open to Biology faculty who do not tow the Creationist line?<br>
Here’s a listing from their '07 -'08 hunt for Biology profs: (note the “compatibility with a young earth creation perspective required”) </p>
<p>Position: Multiple Faculty Positions in the 2007-2008
Salary: Unspecified
Institution: Liberty University
Location: Virginia</p>
<p>Liberty University</p>
<p>Liberty University is a Christian liberal arts university with nearly 9,600 resident students as well as several thousand additional students in its distance-learning program. The University is seeking faculty who can demonstrate a personal faith commitment to its evangelical Christian purpose and who are dedicated to excellence in teaching for the following anticipated openings in the 2007-2008 academic year.</p>
<p>COLLEGE OF ARTS AND SCIENCES - Dr. Roger Schultz, Dean</p>
<p>Biology: Two positions. Rank open. Ph.D. and compatibility with a young-earth creationist philosophy required. 1) Human anatomy and physiology, 2) undergraduate genetics. Supervision of undergraduate research expected. Contact Dr. Paul Sattler - <a href=“mailto:pwsattler@liberty.edu”>pwsattler@liberty.edu</a>.</p>
<p>Center for Creation Studies: Rank open. Ph.D. and experience in the origins controversy from a young earth creation perspective required.</p>
<p>Faculty will teach the required course in creation as well as develop and/or teach in their area of science expertise. Ability to teach courses in astronomy, anatomy and physiology, or other biology courses preferred. Contact Dr. David DeWitt <a href=“mailto:dadewitt@liberty.edu”>dadewitt@liberty.edu</a>.</p>
<p>Both the 2 Bio listings and the Chem listing state the candidate must be “committed to the evangelical standards and mission of Liberty University”. The theatre and math listings do not contain that language.</p>
Baloney. The textbook for the required Creation Studies course was written by the head of the program (who is also, as noted above the chair of the Biology department). It is perfectly clear that they do not teach these “competing theories” objectively–indeed, that’s a point of pride for them.</p>
<p>Now I’m really curious as to how many applications they get and how the number would compare to a secular similarly ranked U… I doubt anyone can get those stats though.</p>
<p>Creekland – Interesting question. Liberty inundated our house with letters and scholarship offers – even after my daughter had gone off to college and asked them to take her off their list. I know someone (a mediocre student at best) who almost went there because they “awarded” her a large scholarship. Also, years ago I knew a couple of people whose parents told them that they would go to Liberty and didn’t allow them to apply anywhere else. One of them came home after the first semester.</p>
<p>I’m guessing that the students who apply and go to Liberty do not overlap much with students who apply elsewhere – except for maybe Bob Jones, which is apparently even more fundamentalist than Liberty.</p>
<p>Students from our school who end up going there (a couple each year) usually apply to other Christian colleges (Messiah is popular) and state schools. I don’t think we’ve ever had a student go to Bob Jones. Most want to stay more local.</p>
<p>Chances are my guys got info from them as they got info from pretty much every other school, but I doubt they looked at it much (like most other schools). Regardless of LU’s religious status, my guys are just so much higher in stats that we didn’t consider schools that low. Oldest son wanted a Christian college, and is at one, but we still didn’t consider LU due to stats. (I did a Christian college stat list back in 2010 so we could look for higher stat schools to further consider. Liberty was at, or near, the bottom. The list isn’t perfect… I don’t know all the schools out there.)</p>
<p>But not all feel the way we do regarding stats. I do know that one NMF who chose the school (free ride) and continued on to med school. There are probably others.</p>
<p>Creation Studies is not part of any science dept. It stands alone.
Therefore the texts used for that class do not fall under the science texts Jerry Jr. was referring to in his statement. Profs often teach in different areas–even at major secular schools. I know of biologists that also teach bio ethics classes.</p>
<p>The University of Wisconsin established Bioethics as one of the first interdisciplinary programs of its kind in a school of medicine. Faculty members come from diverse disciplines, including medicine, law, philosophy, and anthropology. Through their various activities, these scholars have helped to frame bioethics debates at both the national and international levels. Today, Bioethics faculty members are actively engaged in research, teaching, and service related to stem cell research, reproductive medicine, medical education, health disparities, public health ethics, agricultural and medical biotechnologies, and social science perspectives on bioethical concerns.</p>
<p>LU reports the scores of all students including those in the degree-seeking online program which number around 70,000. The resident students have better numbers and they plan to separate them in reporting at some point. JFJr is aware of the issue and commented on it to that effect.</p>
<p>BTW I get all this “insider” stuff from the LU sports board where JFjr often provides new info about what is going on inside LU. I think it is pretty cool he takes time to write directly to LU students, alums and fans. I do not agree with everything they believe and do but I do like the way they run things. They actually listen to the students. I also believe the LU in 25 years will be much different and more BYU/ND like than today. Those are the schools JFSr used for his inspiration to build LU in the beginning. I think that is their real goal. But they have to keep peace with their base which is very conservative while they are in that building process.</p>
<p>When JFSr died five years ago many thought that would be th end of LU too.They did not have much $$$ and competition was growing for both online and resident students. But so far they have come out very well and many of the online programs get good reviews. They are plowing money ($250 million in capital improvements) back into all areas including the campus which was they admit built on the cheap out of necessity. Most of the original stuff will be either demolished or completey renovated which in turn should aid resident student recruitment.</p>
<p>One thing that makes me believe they take providing a low cost quality education for all comers seriously is there emphasis on assessment of student learning and meeting educational goals in every class at all levels. In this I think they are well ahead of many bigger name schools. </p>
<p>“I also believe the LU in 25 years will be much different and more BYU/ND like than today. Those are the schools JFSr used for his inspiration to build LU in the beginning. I think that is their real goal. But they have to keep peace with their base which is very conservative.”</p>
<p>Even though you know a lot about LU specifically, I could not disagree more with this prediction. JFSr may have started with BYU or ND as a model in the beginning, but Liberty is little more now than an indoctrination camp for dominionists, with political underpinnings to every “religious” tenet. In the words of Matt Barber, an LU dean:</p>
<p>“Central to Dominionist Theology are the “7 Mountains of Influence” wherein Dominionist Theologians encourage Christians – Christians! – to positively influence our culture by getting involved in (1) Arts and Entertainment; (2) Business; (3) Education; (4) Family; (5) Government; (6) Media; and (7) Religion.”</p>
<p>Matt Barber runs a relatively small section that is not part of the LU core and is for keeping the ultra-conservative constituents appeased. He does not run LU in any manner.</p>
<p>Law School Associate Dean for Career and Professional Development
Adjunct Assistant Professor of Law</p>
<p>barrons, you can tell yourself whatever you want. No matter what his position (I am sure I read that he used to be associate dean of the law school) he is one of the most vocal “leaders” coming out of LU. And it doesn’t matter if he has a major leadership position anyway. It’s even worse if the agenda of keeping the “ultra-conservative constituents” appeased has trickled down to the rank-and-file staff.</p>
<p>I am in central VA right now and I asked a dinner table of 12 people what they thought of Liberty. No positive comments. Ages ranged from 48 to 90.</p>
<p>Interesting that of all the places the two presidential candidates could have accepted invitations to give commencement speeches, Romney chose Liberty. </p>
<p>Well, that wasn’t my point exactly. Neither Liberty nor Barnard draws its students exclusively from the state it is located in. Obama speaking at Barnard doesn’t stand out to me, but Romney’s choice speaks volumes about the political nature of Liberty University. There are plenty of more reputable conservative schools he could have spoken at, but he chose the most extreme one.</p>
Virginia may be in play but the overt religious overtones in the speech, and the choice of venue, certainly weren’t meant to attract independents.</p>
<p>
And that school squashed student protesters who were angry at Romney being invited because they think Mormonism is a cult. Judgmental students AND suppression of rights by the administration. The name stands as ironic as ever.</p>
