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About

Liberty University (LU) is a private Baptist university in Lynchburg, Virginia. It is affiliated with the Southern Baptist Conservatives of Virginia (Southern Baptist Convention). Founded in 1971 by Jerry Falwell Sr. and Elmer L. Towns, Liberty is among the world's largest Christian universities and the largest private non-profit universities in the United States by total student enrollment. Most of its enrollment is in online courses;[9][10] in 2020, for example, the university enrolled about 15,000 in its residential program and 80,000 online.

Liberty University consists of 17 colleges, including a school of osteopathic medicine, a school of law, and a seminary.[13] [14] Liberty's athletic teams compete in Division I of the NCAA and are collectively known as the Liberty Flames. Their college football team is an NCAA Division I FBS Independent, while most of their other sports teams compete in the ASUN Conference. Their athletics program will join Conference USA as a full member in 2023.

Liberty, whose website and officials speak of "training Champions for Christ", requires undergraduate students to take three Evangelical Bible-studies classes. The university's honor code, called the "Liberty Way,” prohibits premarital sex, cohabitation, and alcohol use.

Described as a "bastion of the Christian right", the university played a prominent role in Republican politics under Falwell and his son and successor Jerry Falwell Jr.;in 2021, Liberty President Jerry Prevo said getting conservative candidates elected to office was "one of our main goals".