Liberty University investigating fallen president Jerry Falwell Jr.’s entire tenure

Pledging its “full commitment to spiritual mission,” Liberty University launched an investigation into its former president Jerry Falwell Jr. in the wake of his resignation amid sexual misconduct allegations.

“This past week challenged all of us to the core,” the university’s board of trustees said in a statement Monday. “While we had been willing to extend grace and understanding to Jerry Falwell, Jr. before, once the revelations about his past personal life came more fully to light, we acted swiftly and decisively to ask for his immediate resignation, which we received.”

The goal is to learn the details of Falwell ‘s conduct as well as study the consequences of his behavior as they played out throughout the university community, the board said. It said the school has retained “one of the leading forensic firms in the world” to scrutinize “all facets of Liberty University operations during Jerry Falwell, Jr.’s tenure as President, including but not limited to financial, real estate, and legal matters.”

Falwell resigned last Tuesday after former pool attendant and later business partner Giancarlo Granda alleged that he had had sex with Falwell’s wife, Becki Falwell, numerous times while her husband watched.

Since then, more allegations have come to light, including one from the bandmate of her son, who said when he was 22 she jumped into bed and performed oral sex on him while he stayed at their house after practice, reported People.

The university also announced the search for a new president, one who has demonstrated “a full commitment to the spiritual mission of Liberty University by words, actions, and example.”

The school is also looking to establish a new position in top university leadership, “someone who will serve as a spiritual coach, mentor, and guide to help ensure that every member of the University leadership fulfills his or her spiritual responsibility to live out the Christian walk expected of each and every one of us at Liberty,” the school said.

The school was founded in 1971 by Jerry Falwell, father of the current Jerry, and today boasts 15,000 on-campus students and a total of 100,000 including its online learners, USA Today reported.

Its honor code states that “Sexual relations outside of a biblically-ordained marriage between a natural-born man and a natural-born woman are not permissible at Liberty University,” USA Today reported.

The couple has denied the allegations and said Sunday they support Liberty’s move, telling the Associated Press they “welcome any inquiry as we have nothing to hide.”