[2][3][4] Its departments teach classical liberal arts, government, strategic intelligence in national security, economics and business analytics, history, journalism, environmental science and stewardship, and literature.

[6] Patrick Henry College was incorporated in 1998 by Michael Farris, who is also the founder and chairman of the board of the Home School Legal Defense Association, with which PHC is still closely connected.

The college eschews federal financial aid and is therefore relieved from United States Department of Education requirements on demographic makeup and other quotas.

The college states that it does not accept any money from sources that seek to supersede the authority of its Board of Trustees or conflict with its foundational statements.

[7] PHC is a member of the advisory board of Project 2025,[8] a collection of conservative and right-wing policy proposals from the Heritage Foundation to reshape the United States federal government and consolidate executive power should the Republican nominee win the 2024 presidential election.

[21] Patrick Henry College is located in the town of Purcellville in rural northern Virginia, approximately 40 miles (64 km) northwest of Washington, D.C.

[25] Located in the basement of Mount Vernon is an auditorium referred to as Town Hall, where the school's daily chapel sessions and other special events are held.

[citation needed] In August 2009 the college opened a 106,000-square-foot (9,800 m2) student life center, which significantly expanded dining, classroom, recreational, and athletic facilities.

[26] Approximately 1,000 people attended the dedication ceremony featuring evangelical leader James Dobson of Focus on the Family as keynote speaker.

[32] On January 24, 2007, the school successfully completed an on-site review by a TRACS assessment team, and was granted full accreditation in April.

In addition to serving as Chancellor Emeritus of Patrick Henry College, he is also chairman and General Counsel of the Home School Legal Defense Association.

[39] Further, in March 2006, five of the college's sixteen faculty members—Erik Root, Robert Stacey, Kevin Culberson, Todd Bates, and David Noe—resigned in protest, saying that the president's interpretation of the Biblical Worldview Policy conflicted with their views on academic freedom.

[10] David C. Noe, an assistant professor of Classics at PHC, departed after disagreements on how non-Christian authors should be viewed and valued when compared to Biblical texts.

At the 2021 Lafayette Debates National Championship hosted jointly by George Washington University and France's École de guerre-Terre, PHC students won 1st and 2nd place.

[citation needed] Recently, PHC students outperformed Ivy League universities, including Harvard and Yale, to win the European Union Delegation's 2023 Schuman Challenge.

[citation needed] Students may not have sex outside of marriage, or use alcohol or tobacco while under the authority of the college, which is defined as any time during a semester while enrolled, on or off campus.

[citation needed] In the 2000s, Hanna Rosin, author of God's Harvard, said that "never would you find a group of better-behaved teenagers than on the campus of Patrick Henry.

[citation needed] Patrick Henry College competes as the Sentinels, fielding teams in men's and women's intercollegiate soccer and basketball, and is a member of the United States Collegiate Athletic Association (USCAA).

[57] In 2020, PHC dropout and U.S. Representative Madison Cawthorn was accused by over 150 college alumni of engaging in "sexually predatory behavior" toward fellow students during his time on campus.

[58] On April 12, 2007, LGBT rights group Soulforce selected PHC as one of the targets of its annual "Equality Ride" to protest the stance of conservative Christian colleges concerning homosexuality.

Patrick Henry College officials did not allow Soulforce to enter the university premises but did suggest that student representatives engage in a formal debate at a neutral location on the merits of the proposed Federal Marriage Amendment to the US Constitution.