The good news is that Liberty University is taking COVID seriously enough to announce a campus-wide quarantine until September 10 because there are currently 159 active cases at the school (including 124 among students). All classes will be held online for the next two weeks, though students will be allowed to use the school’s facilities and dining areas.
The bad news is that Liberty University is still a fundamentalist, right-wing Christian campus… which means vaccines are still not required to attend the school, there are no mask mandates, and even this minimum mitigation is infuriating a bunch of students.
Like Landon Nesbitt, who started a petition to end the lockdown, thereby putting more lives in danger (just like Jesus wanted…).
We, Liberty students, feel that the university should deliver on its promises: In Person Learning. For many students the nature of freedoms that Liberty university encompasses (no masks required, in person lectures and teaching), is the very reason this university was chosen for higher education. This lockdown was unexpected and unwanted by the vast majority of the students here on campus. Therefore we the students request the ending of this lockdown.
“Unwanted”? No one wants a lockdown. Lockdowns occur primarily because some people are too ignorant to protect themselves and others. Nesbitt also said to reporters:
“That was a main reason that I came to Liberty, the fact that it was open, in-person learning, no masks were mandated, and the vaccine wasn’t required,” said Nesbitt.
What a weird thing to admit: You chose a college based on their promise to put more students and faculty members in hospitals.
It’s the height of Christian arrogance that students like this think attending in-person classes outweighs the health and safety of their peers. His petition has over 1,000 signatures as of this writing.
Other students, however, are mad that Liberty didn’t do anything to prevent this totally predictable outcome:
Senior Kendall Covington and junior Nathan Grimes say it’s a little too late.
“I’m upset. I mean, of course, I’m glad that steps are being taken to protect the students’ welfare; but to be honest, this is a slapstick measure,” said Covington.
“If we had just taken some really simple steps, we could’ve avoided this whole issue,” said Grimes.
Right. “Simple steps.” The kind that pretty much every other responsible school has taken. But Liberty, even without Jerry Falwell, Jr., has always been a place where thoughtfulness and critical thinking go to die. (You think remote learning means you’re wasting your money? What did you think you were doing before the lockdown?)
John Fea at Current rounded up some of the other comments from students speaking out against the lockdown and they’re horrifying. Like this student who’s bound to fail every science class she takes.
“This school made promises to stay open and stand firm on their convictions. You can be safe and not be in quarantine. I’m not paying thousands of dollars to be quarantined in my dorm with take out meals and online classes. If you are sick stay home and get better, if you are healthy and have no symptoms, then you can go to class and be out. The whole school shouldn’t have to be shutdown if majority is not sick, makes no sense.”
I would love for everyone complaining about the Liberty lockdown to give us a number: How many people at the school have to be in a hospital or morgue before they accept a temporary quarantine? How many people have to suffer so they can feel like special little Christian snowflakes? We already know more than 630,000 dead Americans isn’t enough for these people to care. So what would do the trick?
It’s Moving Day for the Friendly ..."
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