Evangelical Scion Jerry Falwell Jr. To Serve On Trump Higher Ed Taskforce

Jerry Falwell Jr. with President Trump Image by Getty Images

By Nathan Guttman June 13, 2017

While little information is available about the mission and goals of President Donald Trump’s 15-member committee in charge of reviewing college regulations, one thing is clear: Jerry Falwell Jr. will be part of it.

Falwell, president of Liberty University and son of evangelical icon Jerry Falwell, is considered a leading figure in Christian conservative activism. He recently hosted president Trump at the Lynchburg, Virginia campus, where Trump delivered a commencement speech.

Falwell confirmed to the Chronicle of Higher Education that he will be one of 15 college presidents participating in the task force. The task force, according to Falwell, will not be affiliated with the education department and will be set up directly by Trump.

Falwell had said in the past that Trump offered him the position of education secretary in his cabinet, a position that eventually went to Betsy DeVos.

Contact Nathan Guttman at [email protected] or on Twitter @nathanguttman

Nathan Guttman, staff writer, was the Forward’s Washington bureau chief. He joined the staff in 2006 after serving for five years as Washington correspondent for the Israeli dailies Haaretz and The Jerusalem Post. In Israel, he was the features editor for Ha’aretz and chief editor of Channel 1 TV evening news. He was born in Canada and grew up in Israel. He is a graduate of the Hebrew University of Jerusalem.

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