Jerry Falwell, Jr. a Failed Institutionalist

In December 2015, I sat with about 10,000 other students in Liberty University’s Vines Center for one of the thrice weekly Convocations, this one featuring remarks by Jerry Falwell Jr., the school’s president, chancellor, and son of its famous founder. It was already well-known by the student body that for Jerry, as we half-affectionately called him, off script was a dangerous place to be. Mostly that danger took the form of bad jokes and awkward malapropisms. But on that particular day, it was worse. A few days earlier, a gunman had killed 14 people in San Bernardino, Calif. Jerry was addressing the shooting. Praising Liberty’s policy of allowing concealed carry by licensed students and faculty, he said: “Let’s teach them a lesson if they ever show up here. . . . I’ve always thought if more good people had concealed-carry permits, then we could end those Muslims before they walked in.”

A little more than a month later, Jerry would endorse Donald Trump in the Republican primary.

KG

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Kyle Griesinger

Kyle Griesinger is a graduate of Liberty University and a communications professional based in Washington, D.C.

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Jerry Falwell Jr.

In December 2015, I sat with about 10,000 other students in Liberty University’s Vines Center for one of the thrice weekly Convocations, this one featuring remarks by Jerry Falwell Jr., the school’s president, chancellor, and son of its famous founder. It was already well-known by the student body that for Jerry, as we half-affectionately called him, off script was a dangerous place to be. Mostly that danger took the form of bad jokes and awkward malapropisms. But on that particular day, it was worse. A few days earlier, a gunman had killed 14 people in San Bernardino, Calif. Jerry was addressing the shooting. Praising Liberty’s policy of allowing concealed carry by licensed students and faculty, he said: “Let’s teach them a lesson if they ever show up here. . . . I’ve always thought if more good people had concealed-carry permits, then we could end those Muslims before they walked in.”

A little more than a month later, Jerry would endorse Donald Trump in the Republican primary.