The separation from absence is immediately effective, the statement said. The executive committee of the university’s board of trustees made Falwell’s request. The board gave in its statement no reason for Falwell’s departure.
CNN reached out to Falwell for comment. In a separate statement, Jerry Prevo, chairman of the university’s board of trustees, said the university in Lynchburg, Virginia, had “experienced extraordinary success” during Falwell’s 13 years as president.
“Unfortunately, with this success and the burdens of leading a large and growing organization comes substantial pressure,” Prevo said in the statement. “Today, my colleagues and I on the Liberty University Board of Trustees and Jerry mutually agree that it would be good for him to take an indefinite leave of absence.”
Falwell – no stranger to controversy – has come under fire in recent days after posting a photo on Instagram depicting him with unbuttoned pants and his midsection visible to the camera. Pictured is Falwell holding a bag of dark liquid with one arm around a woman whose shorts are also unzip.
“You know, it was weird because she was pregnant so she could not pick up her (shorts) and I was like, trying to be nice – I have a pair of jeans that I have not worn for a long time, so I “I can’t get zippers either,” Falwell said. ‘That I just thrust my belly out like her.’
Falwell said he “should never have set it up and humiliated her.”
He added, “I have apologized to everyone and I have promised my children that I will try to be a good boy from here.”
Prevo said the decision on leave of absence was “not made clear” and took into account “the interests of everyone in the LU community, including students, parents, alumni, faculty, staff, Church leaders,” as well as the Falwell family. “
“I just think there’s a code that leaders need to live by, especially if you run the largest Christian evangelical university in the country,” Walker told CNN’s Brianna Keilar on Friday.
CNN’s Daniel Burke contributed to this report.
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