Jerry Falwell Jr., president of Liberty University, said he will lead a presidential task force — possibly a pair of them — charged with trimming college regulations and curbing interference by the Department of Education.
Falwell, son of Liberty’s founder, the late televangelist Rev. Jerry Falwell, said President Trump asked him to lead the effort after he declined Trump’s invitation to become U.S. education secretary, a Liberty University spokesman said Wednesday. Liberty is a conservative Christian school.
The White House did not immediately confirm the formation of the task force or Falwell's appointment.
On Tuesday, Falwell told The News & Advance of Lynchburg, Va., that Trump “is forming some education task forces that I’ve been asked to head.”
He told The Chronicle of Higher Education that he sees the task force as a response to “overreaching regulation” and micromanagement by the department in areas such as accreditation and policies that affect student recruitment.
“I’ve got notebooks full of issues,” he said.
Falwell said the group would also look into new federal “borrower defense to repayment” regulations that allow borrowers who have been defrauded by predatory colleges to get their loans forgiven. The 2016 rules went into effect after the collapse of the for-profit Corinthian Colleges, The Chronicle noted.
Len Stevens, a Liberty University spokesman, said Falwell declined Trump’s offer of the secretary post because “he did not want to leave Liberty University for such a long period.” But Falwell, he said, was “looking for a role to play” in the new administration. “I do know that he is very much interested in allowing higher education institutions to do their business with less interference from the government.”
Of particular interest, Stevens said, is overreach in federal Title IX regulations. The law protects people from discrimination based on sex at schools that receive federal funding — about 7,000 postsecondary institutions, at last count. The regulations cover recruitment, admissions, financial aid, athletics, and, most prominently, sexual harassment and assault. Falwell said the regulations require universities “to be judge, jury, police officer, and many times, there’s not enough evidence” for harassment cases to go forward. “Prosecutors don’t even take the cases,” he said. But schools are required to make a public announcement of what they concluded and “ruin a student’s life, when there’s not enough evidence for a case to even go forward."
Stevens said Falwell "thinks those tasks should be left to local police, judges (and) prosecutors. It’s not something universities are trained to do well.”
Falwell may have urgent reasons to change how colleges handle Title IX cases: Last November, Liberty hired former Baylor University athletics director Ian McCaw, who had earlier resigned from the private Texas Baptist university amid a sexual assault scandal that cost coach Art Briles his job.
Falwell, son of Liberty’s founder, the late televangelist Rev. Jerry Falwell, said President Trump asked him to lead the effort after he declined Trump’s invitation to become U.S. education secretary, a Liberty University spokesman said Wednesday. Liberty is a conservative Christian school.
The White House did not immediately confirm the formation of the task force or Falwell's appointment.
On Tuesday, Falwell told The News & Advance of Lynchburg, Va., that Trump “is forming some education task forces that I’ve been asked to head.”
He told The Chronicle of Higher Education that he sees the task force as a response to “overreaching regulation” and micromanagement by the department in areas such as accreditation and policies that affect student recruitment.
“I’ve got notebooks full of issues,” he said.
Falwell said the group would also look into new federal “borrower defense to repayment” regulations that allow borrowers who have been defrauded by predatory colleges to get their loans forgiven. The 2016 rules went into effect after the collapse of the for-profit Corinthian Colleges, The Chronicle noted.
Len Stevens, a Liberty University spokesman, said Falwell declined Trump’s offer of the secretary post because “he did not want to leave Liberty University for such a long period.” But Falwell, he said, was “looking for a role to play” in the new administration. “I do know that he is very much interested in allowing higher education institutions to do their business with less interference from the government.”
Of particular interest, Stevens said, is overreach in federal Title IX regulations. The law protects people from discrimination based on sex at schools that receive federal funding — about 7,000 postsecondary institutions, at last count. The regulations cover recruitment, admissions, financial aid, athletics, and, most prominently, sexual harassment and assault. Falwell said the regulations require universities “to be judge, jury, police officer, and many times, there’s not enough evidence” for harassment cases to go forward. “Prosecutors don’t even take the cases,” he said. But schools are required to make a public announcement of what they concluded and “ruin a student’s life, when there’s not enough evidence for a case to even go forward."
Stevens said Falwell "thinks those tasks should be left to local police, judges (and) prosecutors. It’s not something universities are trained to do well.”
Falwell may have urgent reasons to change how colleges handle Title IX cases: Last November, Liberty hired former Baylor University athletics director Ian McCaw, who had earlier resigned from the private Texas Baptist university amid a sexual assault scandal that cost coach Art Briles his job.