Liberty University in Lynchburg, Virginia. Photo: Andrew Lichtenstein/Corbis via Getty Images
Up to 5,000 students will be allowed to return to Liberty University's campus this week, as the Lynchburg, Virginia, college bucks the national trend of school closures.
Details: Students' classes will resume online for the semester in compliance with a state ban on gatherings of more than 10 people. Unlike most of its counterparts across the country, however, Liberty's academic buildings, library and fitness center will remain open and students will return to residence halls.
- Professors and instructors are expected to come to campus to hold office hours, unless they have a valid health exemption.
- Dining halls will remain open and provide take-out service and abide by the 10-patron limit.
- Liberty students will return days after Virginia Gov. Ralph Northam closed the state's K-12 schools for the rest of the academic year.
What he's saying:
“I think we have a responsibility to our students — who paid to be here, who want to be here, who love it here — to give them the ability to be with their friends, to continue their studies, enjoy the room and board they’ve already paid for and to not interrupt their college life.”— Liberty University President Jerry Falwell Jr. to the Richmond Times-Dispatch