
                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: FRIDAY, March 9, 1990                   TAG: 9003092164
SECTION: VIRGINIA                    PAGE: B3   EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY 
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: RICHMOND                                 LENGTH: Medium

MEDICAL SCHOOL GIVES IN TO STUDENTS ON FALWELL

A compromise has been worked out with Medical College of Virginia students who objected to having the Rev. Jerry Falwell as their commencement speaker, the school's dean said Thursday.

Dr. Stephen Ayres said Falwell agreed Wednesday night to deliver only the invocation at the May 19 event. Ayres will be the main speaker.

The dispute arose this week when several students heard Ayres had invited Falwell to address the graduating class, which includes the clergyman's daughter, Jeannie Falwell.

Falwell, founder and former head of the now-defunct Moral Majority, serves as chancellor of Liberty University and pastor of Thomas Road Baptist Church in Lynchburg. He is strongly aligned with the religious right and has been outspoken in his opposition to abortion and in his support for school prayer and the teaching of creationism as opposed to evolution.

"We really thought of him as a clergyman, not a politician," Ayres said.

He said the medical school traditionally has called upon the parent of a member of the class to speak at the graduation ceremony, and that he invited Falwell to speak because he is "a distinguished clerical parent."

Ayres said Falwell called him Wednesday night and indicated he would be happy to give the invocation at the ceremony, which will feature about 160 medical school graduates.

Ayres said that while ordinarily he would not bend to pressure from students, he was eager to please them in this case because "it is their graduation." He added that he was surprised at the intolerance of some students.

"We are a tolerant group," said Marc Rozner, a member of the graduating class and one of 21 MCV students who met Wednesday with Ayres. "But this isn't a matter of tolerance."

"We are willing to let him [Falwell] speak at any university event that is not one of a kind and that has voluntary attendance," Rozner said. He said the compromise arranged by Ayres would be acceptable.

by CNB