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President Falwell defends LU from frivolous charges by MSNBC host Rachel Maddow

In response to a Liberty University alumna landing a high-profile job with the United States Department of Justice, MSNBC television host Rachel Maddow did not mince words about her disdain for Liberty University.

Recently, the Justice Department named Kerri Kupec its new director of its Office of Public Affairs. Kupec received a Doctor of Law degree from Liberty in 2011. She previously worked for the Alliance Defending Freedom. (Last year, Kupec was honored as a recipient of the Buckley Award from America’s Future Foundation for advocating for religious liberty and the promotion of freedom-minded principles.)

In response, Maddow said in a podcast: “We’ve got a new Justice Department spokesperson who’s from Liberty University, and Liberty University is founded by a televangelist so that your Christian child wouldn’t be corrupted by actual higher education, you know, and now that’s the spokesperson for the Justice Department.”

President Falwell appeared on the Todd Starnes radio program to respond.

“When she makes stupid comments like ‘Liberty is not a real university because it was founded by a televangelist,’ she needs to study her history. Harvard, Yale, Princeton, Brown, most of the Ivy League schools were founded by preachers and evangelists, and that’s a long tradition in this country, and she just shows her ignorance and religious bigotry by making comments like that.

“Liberty has been fully accredited since 1980 and already has a medical school, law school, (and) school of engineering. We have 2,500 professors who got their degrees at every major university in the country. I couldn’t be prouder of what we have accomplished.”

In that broadcast, Starnes said, “It’s really unconscionable what she just did there, but she smeared the thousands and thousands and thousands of young people that have attended Liberty University, that have graduated from Liberty University, one of the finest institutions of higher learning in America.”

Dean of Liberty’s Law School, Keith Faulkner, praised Kupec.

“Kerri Kupec has enjoyed great success in every role she has held since graduating from Liberty Law School. From her work with ADF to her work with the White House, Kerri has exhibited professionalism in every role she has earned, and Liberty is proud to have her as an alumna.”

Faulkner also pointed to the law school’s success, since its founding in 2004.

“Since its founding, graduates of the school have enjoyed great success, practicing law in jurisdictions across the country. Recently, the law school has enjoyed tremendous success on bar exams across the country, including a 95 percent overall bar passage rate for 2018 graduates.”

Other notable achievements for the School of Law include:

  • In May 2018, Liberty Law was ranked No. 4 nationally in the inaugural Top Ten Competition Law Schools released by the American Bar Association (ABA).
  • During the 2017-2018 academic year, Liberty Law’s Moot Court achievements included winning the National Appellate Advocacy Tournament for Religious Freedom (hosted by Notre Dame), qualifying for the National Finals of the ABA NAAC after being declared regional champions in Brooklyn, N.Y., and winning the 33rd Annual Jerome Prince Memorial Evidence Competition, one of the nation’s top moot court tournaments.
  • Liberty Law is now registered with the Certified Financial Planner Board of Standards Inc. (CFP Board), the first board-registered financial planning program exclusively based in a Juris Doctor program.

More information about Liberty University School of Law can be found at Liberty.edu/Law.

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