Conservative Christian Liberty University has taken the unusual step of extending a coveted speaking invitation to self-styled "democratic socialist" Sen. Bernie Sanders.
According to
The Washington Post, the Vermont independent will become the first major Democratic candidate to speak at Liberty.
"It's very easy for a candidate to speak to people who hold the same views," Sanders told the Post through a spokesperson. "It's harder but important to reach out to others who look at the world differently."
The university said that Sanders was selected specifically to break from its reputation of only inviting conservative speakers to address its assemblies, which call for mandatory attendance of its 8,000 students.
"We've always believed that our convocation should be a forum for different views, a time to ask questions and learn," Chancellor Jerry Falwell Jr. told the Post. "A university is supposed to be a place where all ideas are discussed," he added. "That's what we're doing."
"You have to hear from people who believe something different from you," he said. "That's why you go to college."
Sanders appears to be taking a similar point of view.
"It goes without saying that my views on many issues — women's rights, gay rights, education and many other issues — are very different from the opinions of some in the Liberty University community," Sanders said in a statement, according to
Religion News.
"I think it is important, however, to see if we can reach consensus regarding the grotesque level of income and wealth inequality in our country, about the collapse of the middle class, about the high level of childhood poverty, about climate change, and other issues."
Former Liberty University official Johnnie Moore told CNN that Sanders' decision to appear before Liberty equates to "an incredibly courageous and savvy move."
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