Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: WEDNESDAY, June 2, 1993 TAG: 9306020142
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: B-1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: CODY LOWE STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: RICHMOND LENGTH: Long
The State Council of Higher Education voted 8-2 Tuesday to uphold the decision it made in December to continue providing the $1,300-a-year grants to students at the Lynchburg university.
The money is available to all Virginia students attending accredited private colleges and universities, provided they are not studying religion or theology.
Critics had charged - and at least one council member agreed - that Christianity is so pervasive on the Liberty campus that students study religion in virtually every class, therefore all should be ineligible for the grants.
The majority of the council, however, was satisfied that the university is providing a general education and the provision of the grants does not violate state law.
"We hope this is now over" and the university can concentrate on implementing its debt-restructuring plan, Liberty attorney Robert E. Glenn of Roanoke said after the decision.
The university has been working for a year to get creditor approval for a plan to reorganize about $70 million in debts.
Liberty President A. Pierre Guillermin conceded that uncertainty surrounding the tuition assistance may have caused some potential students and their parents to "hold back" from committing to the university.
Tuesday's ruling, he said, should encourage those students "to follow through with their plans [to attend Liberty] next year."
Guillermin said it was "too early to give final figures," but that he expects "modest growth" in the university's enrollment in the fall.
Because about 1,000 Liberty students received the tuition-assistance grants last year, they make a significant contribution - about $1.3 million - to the university budget. Loss of the grants also could have dealt a serious blow to university recruitment of in-state students who might have been able to receive them if they attended other schools.
Although those who sought to deny the grants to Liberty students lost Tuesday, they vowed to keep an eye on the university.
Specifically, they want to make sure the university follows through on a host of policy changes it promised the council, said Steven K. Green.
Green is an attorney for Americans United for Separation of Church and State. The Maryland-based religious liberty organization sought the review of Liberty at the request of some of its Virginia members.
The Council of Higher Education spent almost a year reviewing Liberty policies and practices before deciding the university had changed significantly from the operating procedures the Virginia Supreme Court had labeled "pervasively sectarian" in a January 1991 ruling.
After visiting the campus several times and interviewing Liberty founder Jerry Falwell, the board ruled unanimously in December that university students could continue to receive the grants if the school made official several policies it said were already in effect.
For instance, faculty and students now must agree to "abide" by a code of conduct and university rules and regulations. They no longer have to sign a statement of agreement with them or with the university's Christian doctrinal position.
Student applicants no longer have to include a description of their personal faith experience or the recommendation of their pastor.
Students are now encouraged, but no longer required, to attend Sunday and Wednesday religious services.
The council had objected also to required attendance at convocation programs, once called chapel, but accepted Liberty's position Tuesday that those meetings are not worship services and are essential in creating a sense of community on campus.
Several board members called the changes "significant" and concluded that the university is providing a general collegiate education.
Disagreeing was Tommy Baer, the only council member to speak against the grants. Even with its revised policies, he said, Liberty is "pervasively sectarian" and religious and philosophical doctrine "permeates all aspects of the college."
He was joined by council member Susie James in voting against the motion to continue eligibility for Liberty students.
After the vote, Green said the changes "look significant on paper," but the council majority "was a little naive" to have accepted at face value all of the changes the university submitted.
Green and other critics said Liberty promised similar changes, but never implemented them, when it tried unsuccessfully to obtain a tax-free industrial revenue bond issue in 1989.
He said his organization plans to keep an eye on Liberty, but that no lawsuit or other action is planned.
Green said Americans United will continue to review the situations at Regent University in Virginia Beach and Christendom College in Front Royal, two other Christian schools whose students receive the tuition assistance.
He suggested that if his group ever raises a similar challenge, it may go straight to the courts rather than seeking remediation through the Council of Higher Education. This process took too long, he said, and allowed Liberty to change policies as the case was being considered.
by CNB