Jerry Falwell Jr. confirms he has resigned as head of Liberty University

Jerry Falwell Jr. confirmed Tuesday that he has resigned as president of Liberty University, after agreeing to step down Monday in the wake of scandals involving personal conduct, and then reversing course.

Falwell’s father, Jerry Falwell Sr. was a revered evangelical leader who helped found the Christian university in 1971 as a way of spreading the evangelical message throughout the world. The younger Falwell became president in 2007 after his father’s death.

Working off the family's long-term plan to reduce massive debt and shift to more on-line learning, Falwell Jr. transformed the physical campus, dramatically increased enrollment and made the university a high-profile platform for conservative politicians.

Falwell's endorsement of President Donald Trump in 2016 made national headlines because he was one of the first major evangelical leaders to favor Trump ahead of the GOP primaries. But a series of personal scandals eroded his support, with critics increasingly vocal about concerns including racism, nepotism and creating a "culture of silence" for those who rejected Falwell's pro-Trump politics. The overarching complaint was that Falwell had lost sight of the school's evangelical mission to "train champions for Christ."

Falwell has been on a paid leave of absence since Aug. 7, after he posted a photo on social media of himself with his arm around a young woman whom he later identified as his wife's assistant, with their zippers undone and bellies exposed. Falwell wrote in the caption that the drink in his hand was "just black water."

Alcohol and sexual promiscuity are banned for students under Liberty's personal code of conduct.

Opposition to Falwell's presidency intensified after two new reports about a young man Falwell and his wife befriended at a Florida pool and went into business with several years ago, and who allegedly was sexually connected to the couple. One report painted Falwell as the victim of an obsessive affair, the other as an eager participant manipulating a naive young man. On Monday night, Falwell said that a Reuters report, which described him as having watched his wife having sex with another man, is false.

Earlier Monday, Falwell had agreed to resign from the school's presidency and board of directors, according to a statement from David M. Corry, the university's general counsel. Corry said Falwell then told his attorneys not to submit the letter for immediate resignation.

Falwell said Monday night that his status was "still up in the air."

University leaders were meeting on Tuesday.

Even before the latest revelations, Falwell had generated considerable controversy. In May, he tweeted a photo aimed at Virginia Democratic Gov. Ralph Northam -- who nearly resigned from his office last year after revelations that a racist photo was featured on his medical school yearbook page -- showing a face mask decorated with a person in blackface and another in a Ku Klux Klan robe. The photo angered many, and although Falwell deleted the tweet and apologized, some Black students and staff members left the school.

Earlier this month, a group of alumni called Save71 called for Falwell’s permanent removal from office, saying he had damaged the spiritual vitality, academic quality, and national reputation of the school. They asked for him to be replaced “with a responsible and virtuous Christian leader,” and launched a website detailing scores of controversial moments in the most recent five years of his tenure.