Here is one of many articles that reported on it. They all rub me the wrong way, as they under report what the NYT did. Also, they misspell his name which I think is on purpose. anyway.

A few things for those interested. The campus was closed after spring break (no residential classes, some limited food service for those that had not left yet. Mostly international and those that did not have cars etc.) Staff were sent home and we all started working from home (I kept sneaking into my office because, well, my kids drive me nuts trying to livestream a class . . .) Let me say this again, it was a ghost town. there were no classes after it 're-opened'. News seized on the fact that Jerry did not use the word 'closed' even though all classes were now online. So that is the situation.

I was walking to get some coffee and I saw the journalist and her cameraman. She was exasperated, there was literally no one to take a picture of, NO ONE. They drove away. It never occurred to me that this was anything but funny. They ran an article with the headline,
"Liberty University Brings Back Its Students, and Coronavirus Fears, Too The decision by the school’s president, Jerry Falwell Jr., to partly reopen his evangelical university enraged residents of Lynchburg, Va. Then students started getting sick." (sorry the original article is behind the NYT paywall).

All of the regional colleges had near identical policies, if you had a place to go, go. If you do not stay in your dorm and quarantine.

NOT ONE RESIDENTIAL STUDENT had or has had corona. The doctor was shown to be taken out of context, he was not the campus doctor and had not seen any of those that were 'sick' (the students nor the campus docs were interviewed by the NYT).

It made the news, and the rounds. some even used video and pictures of the 8000 students leaving convo and the crowded lawn. It fed into hsteria. Later they would quietly add the label "image from archive" but the message was clear. We were ground 0 for Corona. I had parents emailing me, etc. I took pictures and sent them back. place is a ghost town.

Liberty was clearly singled out. To this day NYT has not retracted its hit pieces that it ran during this time feeding the hysteria.

I am really curious how this plays out.

A few days ago, this article was published:
"I Was Wrong About Jerry Falwell, Liberty U, And COVID-19" by Jerry Bowyer. I even agree with his criticism of Jerry jr. It is worth the read.
Link

Redstone, thanks for sharing your experience and that article. Too many in the press have an agenda that matters more than well researched, factual news. To see someone in the media point this out is refreshing.