If Liberty U students are ever going to remove their president and move past his legacy, they are going to have to change one important thing about how they talk about him.

President Falwell is known to nearly all Liberty students as “Jerry.” They yell his name when he speaks in convocation and they talk about him like he’s another student. They laugh when he acts like a kid. He’s like their fun, crazy uncle.

And that makes him powerful. Jerry can say what he wants. He can be rude on Twitter, remove professors at will, censor news he doesn’t like in the school paper, and say crazy stuff about politics. Because “Jerry” seems like a cartoon character, not the leader of a university.

Jerry endorsed Trump? Lol he would! Jerry said “End those Muslims!” in convocation? Haha Jerry you can’t say that man!! Jerry said something racially insensitive on Twitter? oh Jerry!

That’s how much of the LU community talks about its president. And it needs to stop.

Liberty students: stop calling him Jerry. He’s not your uncle, he’s not your buddy, and he’s not cute. He is the president of a university. He is the leader of a large institution aiming to educate Christians. His words paint the picture the world has of YOU. Treat him like it.

Five years ago, when Falwell said we have guns at Liberty so we can “end those Muslims” when they come to kill us, the room roared with laughter.

That horrifying moment, witnessing thousands of Christians laugh in the face of evil, snapped me out of my own moral carelessness.

I had thought Jerry was hilarious. I did an impression of him that made guys on my dorm laugh. I dressed as him for Halloween. I was a sophomore in college and took life as seriously as most sophomores in college do.

But then I heard him say he wanted to end those Muslims, and I realized how stupid and wrong it would be to tell the Muslim guys I worked with that summer ‘oh lol that’s just Jerry being Jerry.’ They would say, isn’t he the president of your school?

Whenever people ask me when Liberty students will reach the final straw with Falwell, I tell them that when he steps on the convocation stage and doesn’t hear a chorus of “Jerrrryyyyyy!!” that’s when you’ll know that his time is running out.

So to any Liberty students reading this: the first step towards removing your school’s president is to talk about him like he’s the president of your school. Don’t call him Jerry, and tell him his time is up. #FixLU #FireFalwell