Liberty University is pursuing criminal trespassing charges against two journalists who reported that the evangelical college was partially open during the coronavirus pandemic.
Liberty president Jerry Falwell Jr. has pushed for the charges against Alec MacGillis, a reporter for ProPublica, and Julia Rendleman, a photographer for The New York Times, for allegedly entering the private campus in Lynchburg, Virginia.
The school has been castigated for inviting its students to return to campus after spring break — even as virtually every other university has shuttered to halt the spread of the virus.
Falwell has argued that Liberty wanted to be available to international students or others without fallback housing options.
He said reporters entering the grounds without permission from coronavirus “hotspots” was a safety issue.
“When people are coming from known hotspots, we feel we owe it to our students and our parents not to let that happen,” Falwell said Thursday. “The only way to send the message is to let them know they will be prosecuted.”
Virginia Magistrate Kang Lee signed arrest warrants for Class 1 Misdemeanors against the two journalists, which are punishable by up to a year in jail.
Richard Tofel, president of ProPublica, said it was important to shine a line a decision that could put the health of its more than 100,000 student enrollees at risk.
“Bringing an action on trespassing charges seems something beside the point,” Tofel said.
Both outlets focused on the community concerns around keeping the campus open. The ProPublica piece, “What’s it Like on One of the Only University Campuses Still Open in the U.S.?” was published on March 26.
The Times story, “Liberty University Brings Back its Students, and Coronavirus Fears, Too” ran a few days later on March 29.
The reporter who worked on the Times story was not charged because Liberty University could not find eyewitness accounts of their presence on campus, Fallwell said.
“We are disappointed that Liberty University would decide to make that into a criminal case and go after a freelance journalist because its officials were unhappy with press coverage of the university’s decision to convene classes in the midst of the pandemic,” Times spokeswoman Eileen Murphy said.
Liberty has gone on the defensive after the Times piece ran, disputing its reporting that nearly a dozen students were sick with COVID-19 symptoms. The university claimed only one student who does not live on the campus has tested positive.
Murphy stood by the account.
“We’re confident in the accuracy of our reporting,” she said.
WIth Post wires