Liberty University co-founder Elmer Towns has been named dean of the school's Liberty Baptist Theological Seminary, officials announced at opening convocation Wednesday.
Towns, 77, replaces Ergun Caner, whose contract as seminary dean was not renewed for this year following an LU investigation into claims Caner made about his upbringing and background as a Muslim.
The committee concluded the Caner "has made factual statements that are self-contradictory."
Caner will remain on the faculty teaching online classes but will not teach in a classroom this semester, Chancellor Jerry Falwell Jr. said in an interview Wednesday.
Towns, who led the seminary from 1979 to 1992, also will continue as dean of LU's school of religion.
"The punishment was commensurate with the problem, so we're ready to move on," Towns said about Caner. "I really don't want to talk about him. I want to look toward the future."
"We think the seminary is going to have a great year this year, which shows it wasn't built on one man, it was built on a whole team," he added.
Towns' goals for the seminary include increasing online and on-campus enrollment to 10,000 students by 2013, which coincides with the seminary's 40th anniversary. Last semester, the seminary enrolled approximately 500 on-campus students and 6,800 students online.
He also wants to raise $4 million to $5 million for a standalone building to house the seminary. Currently, classes meet on the second floor of the old Ericsson building, a facility Falwell called "not ideal by any stretch."
Source: Lynchburg News & Advance | Liz Barry
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