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Liberty University’s Board of Trustees wants to divide leadership responsibilities at the evangelical institution in the wake of the tumultuous end of Jerry Falwell Jr.’s tenure, announcing plans Monday to separate the university’s chancellor and president roles.
Trustees held a two-day board meeting Thursday and Friday, voting to hire a chancellor to be Liberty’s spiritual leader and a president to be the administrator in charge of academics, operations and employees. But the board has yet to approve job descriptions, and its members expect filling the positions to take more than a year.
The changes come after Liberty’s former leader resigned in August in the wake of a series of scandals and explosive allegations about his sexual behavior. Falwell denied the allegations and is now suing the university for defamation and breach of contract. He had held the titles of both chancellor and president, receiving more than $1 million annually for the roles, according to the university’s most recently available federal tax filing, for the year ending in June 2018.
Falwell is the son of Jerry Falwell Sr., the televangelist who was Liberty’s founder and the leader of the Moral Majority. The younger Falwell had held key leadership roles at Liberty before taking over as its leader following the 2007 death of his father, who had held the unified roles of president and chancellor when he was alive. The younger Falwell rose in prominence as online enrollment fueled massive growth at Liberty, and he was a key backer of President Donald Trump’s 2016 candidacy and ensuing tenure as president of the United States.
Jerry Prevo, who had been Liberty’s board chair since 2003, stepped into the university’s presidency after Falwell’s resignation. Prevo was senior pastor of Anchorage Baptist Temple in Alaska for 47 years.
