MSNBC presenter Rachael Maddow said in a podcast interview with colleague Chris Hayes: "This anti-intellectual, anti-elite line of argument we've seen from right-wing populists since the beginning of time.
"We've got a new Justice Department spokesperson who's from Liberty University, and Liberty University was founded by a televangelist so that your Christian child wouldn't be corrupted by actual higher education.
"And now that's the spokesperson for the Justice Department."
They were referring to Kerri Kupec, the Justice Department's new director of its Office of Public Affairs. Kupec received a Doctor of Law degree from Liberty in 2011.
The son of Billy Graham acknowledged in a tweet that "no university is perfect" but described it as a "great institution".
In a series of three tweets on Maddow's criticism, he added: "@LibertyU has enrolment exceeding 100K students - 15.5K on campus & 94k+ online. Less than 50-yrs-old, LU has $1.3 billion in endowment & beautiful, new, cutting-edge campus.
"Ranked as one of the top universities in the country, they have 17 schools including medicine & law.
.@MSNBC's Rachel @Maddow is in the news for being critical of @LibertyU. No university is perfect, but this great institution is an academic powerhouse. Dr. Falwell stayed true to the vision God gave him to build "Champions for Christ." 1/3 https://t.co/u9tDGrJpMg
— Franklin Graham (@Franklin_Graham) December 20, 2018
"The history of @LibertyU just shows you what God can do when you're faithful to Him and His calling. God bless @JerryFalwellJr as he continues leading and building this great institution."
The University's president Jerry Falwell has also defended the university.
Speaking on Fox's Todd Starnes radio show he said: ""When [Maddow] makes stupid comments like 'Liberty is not a real university because it was founded by a televangelist,' she needs to study her history.
"Harvard, Yale, Princeton, Brown, most of the Ivy League schools were founded by preachers and evangelists, and that's a long tradition in this country, and she just shows her ignorance and religious bigotry by making comments like that.
"Liberty has been fully accredited since 1980 and already has a medical school, law school, (and) school of engineering. We have 2,500 professors who got their degrees at every major university in the country. I couldn't be prouder of what we have accomplished."
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