Find us on Facebook
Follow us on TwitterLiberty plans to flex political muscle in elections
With as many as 3,200 Liberty University students eligible to vote locally, including more than 1,700 who completed applications before this week’s registration deadline, Chancellor Jerry Falwell Jr. said Friday that the college will cancel classes on Election Day to encourage students to head to the polls.
Lynchburg Registrar Pat Bower said that confirmed registrations by Liberty’s on-campus students have increased by about 800 since last year. The registrar’s office cannot keep track of off-campus applicants, Bower said.
Citywide, Lynchburg had 47,510 registered voters as of Thursday, Bower said. That was an increase of about 300 from last year’s presidential election.
Liberty’s first concerted voter registration drive took place last fall, when about 4,000 students registered to vote in the presidential election. Though Falwell hopes for a strong showing in November, he said the school is more invested in City Council elections next spring.
“A strong turnout will cause City Council and others to focus more on issues that affect Liberty,” he said.
Under current zoning law, the development plans of LU and other Lynchburg colleges are subject to approval from City Council.
“Liberty has no interest in running the city of Lynchburg, but we’d like to have a little more freedom to grow and expand without approval and without restriction,” Falwell said.
In May, City Council’s three at-large seats will be up for election — those currently held by Mayor Joan Foster, Vice Mayor Bert Dodson and Councilman Scott Garrett. Because these are at-large elections, voters in all wards will be able to vote on all three seats.
The election will be held on May 4, according to the Virginia Board of Elections Web site.
In many cases, Liberty students are more affected by City Council decisions than those made on a state or national level, Falwell said.
“We believe that students would be neglecting their responsibility as citizens if they did not exercise their right to vote.”
Reader Reactions
Reality Check… It is funny (actually, sad) that you should say that, for that is exactly the kind of half-truth the religious right (religious wrong) likes to propagate.
For centuries, medieval universities had built their studies around Christian theology. In that framework, the earth, created by God, was at the center of all things. It was actually a churchman, Nicholas Copernicus, who first realized that the planets orbited the sun, disputing the Church dogma that underpinned university doctrine. He was quickly ridiculed by Catholics and Protestants for his heresy. When Galileo Galilei later argued that it was a sun-centered universe, the Church arrested and condemned him for heresy through the Roman Inquisition.
Enlightenment principles, both scientific and political, are yet to filter down to latter-day fundamentalists. Five centuries later, I have no doubt that LU must still consider the God-made earth to stand at the center of the universe… at least in principle.
Reality Check - The process to change a voting location takes a year and a half, minimum, as it has to be approved by the state. If UVA students are voting on-campus, I’m guessing that it has served as a polling place for quite some time.
Do you think the scientists might have it wrong about the earth being round? Perhaps they’ll “get it right” and go back to the flat-earth model?
greywolf, it was the scientific community that once believed in a flat earth, the sun orbiting the earth and bleeding as a beneficial medical treatment. Now they believe in global warming caused by humans and the Big Bang Theory. At what point should we trust “scientists”? When will they finally get it right?
Maybe LU ought to keep classes on schedule, so they can graduate a more enlightened electorate…
Well, on second thought, I’;m not sure how they are accredited anyway, given that they don’t teach real science or history.
Tell me again, grandpa Jerry, how flat is the earth? Where do we go when we fall off the edge? How long does it take the sun to orbit around the earth? How many angels can dance on the head of a pin… Or on a pinheaded conservative, for that matter?
“Not all conservatives are stupid people, but most stupid people are conservatives.“ John Stuart Mill
Too bad there is not an IQ requirement to vote.
These religous types always vote on the same two issues…abortion and gays. ( or insert gun rights)
Never mind the fact that the democratic party actually fights for more causes they say they care about as christians. Such as education, health and safety of children, care for the poor and elderly. Helping the homeless or protecting the environment that God made. All these things they supposedly care about yet they vote for the party that consistantly fights against most of these issues to protect corporations, big business and the greedy.
UVA students were able to vote in precincts located on campus in 2008. That is how Periello beat Virgil Goode. LU has to cancel classes because its students are not given the option of voting in their own precinct on campus. If the State Board of Elections treated LU the same as it does UVA, they would not have to cancel classes.
lablover, though there’s often huge overlap, we’re talking ethics not codified law. Here’s the question:
Is it ethical for a university administration to grant a student holiday to encourage student voter participation for the purpose of obtaining “freedom to grow and expand without approval and without restriction?“
I suspect that most university administrators would be insulted by the question. Furthermore, many universities actually do have in place a code of ethics covering such activity, e.g.
Howard University: We shall not offer University resources to another in order to obtain unfair advantage…
Radford University: We will not use university resources for personal benefit or gain.
The list goes on.
Way to go LU for helping students register to vote… I am sure that anyone of legal age to vote are also able to make their own decisions and will make the right votes and the ones that affect them the most… BTW I am not a LU student or LU grad but completely agree that LU allows students to vote… it is very important… Just as if an LU student made a poor decision it would be posted all over this site LU students should be able to make right decisions and not be given grief.. If you live in this town and are associated w/ LU or TRBC you get blasted from the liberals… It’s not right.. So, WAY TO GO Jerry Jr!!!
If the people of Lynchburg get out and cast a responsible, informed vote then this issue is moot. If they sit back and think that this election is not important then they’ll have a couple of years to gripe about it. It is a constant source of amazement to me that people turn out in huge numbers to vote for president, an election that affects them little on a day to basis but sit at homes on their lazy duffs when council is elected. Council is directly spending their money and will respond to your opinion. When was the last time George Bush, and now Obama, sent you an email or returned your call?
If the future of this city is not important to them then let Mr. Falwell run things for a while and see how they like that.
Let the kids vote, they have minds of their own and might even surprise a few people.
Bledsoe,
Again - where is this code of ethics?
Anyway, you will get to find out if you are right or wrong in 2010 when the election happens!
Advertisement