What we have here are two stories about Christian higher education during the coronavirus crisis.
One is set in a rather remote part of America, but it involves — kind of — Citizen Donald Trump. The other is a national-level story with news hooks that will affect institutions (and thus newsrooms) in several hundred communities spread out from coast to coast.
So which of these two stories is grabbing national headlines, including chunks of time on TV news?
That isn’t a very hard question, is it?
Here is the main New York Times headline on the latest chapter in the saga of Jerry Falwell, Jr., and his mano y mano fight with the coronavirus: “Liberty University Brings Back Its Students, and Coronavirus Fears, Too.” We can expect all kinds of updates and national coverage about this issue, of course.
LYNCHBURG, Va. — As Liberty University’s spring break was drawing to a close this month, Jerry Falwell Jr., its president, spoke with the physician who runs Liberty’s student health service about the rampaging coronavirus.
“We’ve lost the ability to corral this thing,” Dr. Thomas W. Eppes Jr. said he told Mr. Falwell. But he did not urge him to close the school. “I just am not going to be so presumptuous as to say, ‘This is what you should do and this is what you shouldn’t do,’” Dr. Eppes said in an interview.
So Mr. Falwell — a staunch ally of President Trump and an influential voice in the evangelical world — reopened the university last week, igniting a firestorm. As of Friday, Dr. Eppes said, nearly a dozen Liberty students were sick with symptoms that suggested Covid-19, the disease caused by the virus. Three were referred to local hospital centers for testing. Another eight were told to self-isolate.
Note that Falwell is an “influential voice” in “the evangelical world” — as opposed to one corner of a large and complex movement. At the very least, this implies that he is an “influential voice” in the larger world of evangelical and conservative Protestant higher education — which is a hilarious statement. He’s “famous,” for sure. “Influential?” For some people, yes, but for most evangelicals — statistically — the answer is “no.”
Here’s a challenge to folks at the world’s most important newspaper and members of the Times choir in other newsrooms: Can you name a single mainstream evangelical denomination, parachurch group or publication that is backing Falwell on this issue?
There may be one or two out there, but I have not seen evidence of that in social media. The mainstream evangelical reaction to Falwell’s take on coronavirus and the safety of his students (and the nearby city) has been negative, as far as I can tell. Also, ask this: Which institution has more power in the evangelical world, Falwell’s Liberty University or the leadership of the Southern Baptist Convention — which has already canceled it’s annual convention this summer?
Now, this Times report does include lots of interesting information, including information about college finances. That’s important information, especially to other institutions in central Virginia. But this also raises issues about higher-education in general. Hold that thought.
Students who remained at home had to return last week to clean out their rooms, a requirement that was later relaxed. Faculty members were at first ordered back to campus, even though they would be teaching online. Then some were allowed to work from home.
Mr. Falwell also waffled on whether the school would issue refunds to students who did not return for the semester, before announcing on Friday that most would receive a $1,000 credit for next year’s bills.
Mr. Falwell and his administration have worked to tamp down dissent. After a Liberty undergraduate, Calum Best, wrote on his personal Facebook page that students should receive refunds, he said Liberty’s spokesman, Scott Lamb, called his cellphone to berate him. Asked about the call, Mr. Lamb said he was simply objecting to an error in the post, and Mr. Best was “spinning.”
This valid financial angle brings me to a USA Today network story that I think should have receives more coverage. The headline states: “Small colleges were already on the brink. Now, coronavirus threatens their existence.”
At the heart of this report is a way less sexy — politically speaking — reality: Falwell is the exception to the national rule, which is that most college educators have closed their doors for the rest of the year.
So what if there is bigger story out there, one in which words like “Trump” and “Falwell” are not in play? That would appear to be the case, right now.
What if some of these smaller, tuition-driven liberal arts colleges (many with religious roots or denominational ties) were already at risk in the post-Millennial marketplace? Now, they are being slammed by the coronavirus crisis.
What happens to the communities nearby if some of them start closing or merging? Here is the top of that recent USA Today story, which focus on the crucial spring months in which small colleges do the recruiting that keeps them alive:
This is the season when small college campuses across the nation are supposed to be full of potential students peering into classrooms, eating lunch in the dining hall, spending the night in dorms and being wowed by interactions between faculty and students.
Instead, campuses are mostly empty, not only of prospective students, but also already enrolled students. Not having the ability to draw high schoolers to campus means admissions counselors find themselves tied to computers, doing video chats as they extol the virtues of their campus.
No one knows whether video chats and virtual tours will generate the same level of application and enrollment as in-person strolls. The answer will have enormous impact on small liberal arts colleges across the nation, many operating close to the margin already.
This brings us to a source who is kind of the Anti-Falwell, when dealing with these issues. (Personal note: This educator was also my boss during the final years of my 20 years of work with this organization).
“Just going online has a cost,” said Shirley Hoogstra, president of the Council for Christian Colleges and Universities, a group of 180 mostly small schools from the U.S. and overseas. “If you are a residential college, you have to figure out what would be a fair repayment to students who are no longer living on campus. There will be additional cleaning costs. It will increase the financial burden on these schools.”
Let me turn this into a basic journalism question. If the goal is to round up facts for a national story on this topic, who has more authority in Christian higher education — Falwell or Hoogstra?
Both have looked at oceans of ink when it comes to demographic and financial trends affecting their institutions. One represents a single, big, media-friendly (in terms of clickbait headlines) campus near the Virginia mountains. The other is in constant contact with college presidents and other administrators from coast to coast, along with leaders of other academic think tanks and networks in Washington, D.C.
Here’s another chunk of that important USA Today report:
For colleges already on the brink, waves of economic bad news could have dire consequences.
It's not just small colleges: In two weeks, the future of college has become uncertain, thanks to coronavirus.
First is the short-term hit: Students are leaving residence halls in droves as colleges ask all but those truly unable to go home to pack up. Colleges are being called on to issue refunds, which could total in the millions of dollars for some larger liberal arts colleges. Schools are facing unexpected costs as they try to switch their entire classroom instruction apparatus to online-only. That's a particular challenge for small liberal arts colleges, whose calling cards are face-to-face relationships between faculty and students.
So you are the editor of a local newspaper near one of these colleges. You know who Falwell is, because you read the Times and follow CNN. You can tell dozens of jokes about Falwell and the people that you perceive as his blind followers.
But is Hoogstra in your collection of crucial sources? How about other mainstream evangelical leaders in higher education? Do you even know the telephone number for multiple voices on the private campus in your own backyard?
Just asking.