Proposed relationship with Liberty University creates concerns among town leadership

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SILER CITY — The possibility of establishing a memorandum of understanding with Liberty University sparked coruscating debate between Siler City commissioners and other town leaders during the board’s regular meeting last Tuesday.

The relationship would afford town employees the chance to continue their higher education via online programs offered by Liberty at a 15% discounted tuition rate.

In return, Siler City would contractually agree to the “promotion of Liberty,” which would include emailing staff three times per year with “text provided by Liberty,” “placing a sourced URL, provided by Liberty” on the town’s benefits website, “inviting representatives from Liberty to attend (Siler City) sponsored” education events, displaying “Liberty University posters in the break rooms” and “annually distributing Liberty marketing material to employees,” according to the proposed MOU.

As per the agreement, both the Town of Siler City and Liberty University would also grant “to the other party the right to use its name, logo and other promotional materials to promote the program...”

The relationship would last two years with automatic one-year renewals to continue afterward, barring objection from either party.

While the program would permit discounted online enrollment to all town employees, it was designed for the police department, according to Town Manager Roy Lynch.

“This was originally presented by Chief (Mike) Wagner and it’s geared toward their law enforcement courses that are available,” he said at the meeting. “He felt like they would really be beneficial here for them.”

Town attorney William Morgan and some board members expressed apprehension, however, about partnering with Liberty.

“It being a religious-supported or based school, and Siler City being a town,” Morgan said, raises concerns about “trying to mitigate any chance of running afoul of the establishment clause, First Amendment.”

Liberty, founded in 1971 in Lynchburg, Virginia, by Jerry Falwell Sr., is one of the world’s largest evangelical Christian universities. Most of its more than 100,000 students are enrolled in online courses.

The school has come under fire in recent months following former university President Jerry Falwell Jr.’s response to the coronavirus pandemic and the renewed anti-racism movement in the United States.

In May, criticizing Democratic Gov. Ralph Northam’s mask mandate, Falwell tweeted a picture of a mask adorned with a photo of two men: one in blackface and another in a Ku Klux Klan outfit. The tweet was meant to mock Northam, whose medical school yearbook page featured the photo.

In response to the tweet, several Black staff-members and students left Liberty.

Falwell has since resigned, but criticism for the school persists, especially from anti-discrimination advocates who object to the school’s traditional Christian code of honor which includes that “sexual relations outside of a biblically-ordained marriage between a natural-born man and a natural-born woman are not permissible...”

“What if we have an employee who is non-Christian, or doesn’t agree with the tenets as set forth by Liberty University,” said Commissioner Lewis Fadely, who is also an attorney, “and then they say ‘I want to take these same or similar classes at a secular institution,’ and we say no? Have we somehow violated either the establishment or free exercise clause? ... Could the employee argue that he or she is less compensated for their religious beliefs?”

Morgan was unsure whether there would be legal repercussions, but Wagner argued that town employees did not have to capitalize on the program if it conflicted with their personal beliefs.

“I believe it’s just the opposite,” Wagner said, “it’s an educational choice. Currently the town offers very limited supplement to our paid staff to pursue a higher education. So, in fact, it’s a personal choice ... We don’t force the program on any sworn member.”

Commissioner Bill Haiges questioned whether a partnership with Liberty would subject the town to accusations of discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation and conduct.

“As a practical example, if you have an officer that is unmarried and is living with his girlfriend,” he said, “and he joins this program, he is obligated to report himself for a violation of the honor code. If he gets his girlfriend pregnant, he is in violation of the honor code. And, obviously, gay and lesbian (employees) would be in violation of the honor code ... So, I’m just concerned that we have an issue with that, and we are setting people up to knowingly violate an honor code which then would create sanctions on them.”

Fadely went a step further.

“If it’s related to sexual orientation, which is a new protected class, then we have issues as a town,” he said. “Or if it’s related to sex, that’s a long-established protected class, and we have issues as a town.”

At Morgan’s request, the board tabled discussion of the MOU to permit him more time to examine its legal ramifications.

Reporter D. Lars Dolder can be reached at dldolder@chathamnr.com and on Twitter @dldolder.