Liberty University welcomed its students back to campus this week, despite explicit social distancing guidelines from both the White House and the state of Virginia amid the coronavirus outbreak.

University President Jerry Falwell Jr., a longtime supporter of President Trump Donald John TrumpBiden leads Trump by 36 points nationally among Latinos: poll Trump dismisses climate change role in fires, says Newsom needs to manage forest better Jimmy Kimmel hits Trump for rallies while hosting Emmy Awards MORE, said in a statement on Monday that he had been in conversation with the Council of Independent Colleges in Virginia to determine how to allow students who wanted to return to the evangelical college's Lynchburg campus to do so while still following the guidelines that have been put forward.

“I was on a conference call with other college presidents and representatives from private colleges, and we listened to what other schools were doing," Falwell said. "Many were throwing their hands up and saying they would just close and others were going to extend their breaks. At that time, we were on Spring Break, so we had time to work on it."

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He added: “Our thinking was, ‘Let's get them back as soon as we can — the ones who want to come back.”

Multiple universities, school districts and in some cases entire states — including Virginia — have canceled classes for the rest of the academic year in the face of the pandemic.

Falwell told the Richmond Times-Dispatch that somewhere between several hundred to more than 5,000 students were expected to be living in Liberty's dorms as classes resumed Monday.