Fox News host Glenn Beck, the outspoken and confrontational media darling of working-class conservatism, will give the commencement speech at Liberty University on May 15, Chancellor Jerry Falwell Jr. said.

The 12,000-student Lynchburg school in previous years has booked graduation speakers in line with its Christian values, and Falwell said Beck held true to university tradition.

"Beck is one of the few courageous voices in the national media standing up for the principles upon which this nation was founded," Falwell said in a news release.

Beck has accused President Obama of pushing the country toward communism, and left-leaning personalities have in turn attacked Beck's fiery brand of angry, weepy and moralizing commentary. But most Liberty students responded with enthusiasm to the news that their commencement speaker would be the man whose 2009 Fox News debut drew more than 2.4 million viewers.

Students clapped and cheered Friday morning when Falwell made the announcement to the 8,000 people attending a campus prayer service, said Melinda Zosh, a junior and news editor of the student weekly newspaper Liberty Champion.

"I would have to say that he was very popular," said Zosh, who attended the service. "A lot of students were very excited that he would speak at commencement. Certainly there were others who weren't."

The Rev. Paige Patterson, the eighth president of the Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary in Fort Worth, Texas, will also speak at the commencement and a service the day before, the news release said.

Ben Stein, the attorney and writer best known for his "Clear Eyes" commercials, spoke at the university's 2009 commencement. Chuck Norris, of "Walker, Texas Ranger" fame, spoke in 2008. U.S. Rep. Newt Gingrich spoke in 2007, and U.S. Sen. John McCain spoke in 2006.

Other commencement speakers in the region include: David Martin, the advertising executive who created the "Virginia is for Lovers" slogan, will speak at Radford University on May 8. Stephan Bieri, an internationally known scientific evaluation and intellectual property scholar, and Gov. Bob McDonnell will speak May 14 at Virginia Tech.