Bubbaworld

A Bubbaworld Opinion/Editorial Piece

Just like the boom/bust cycle of Oklahoma’s petroleum industry you can always count on another scandal at Oral Roberts Ministries/University. These things run in cycles.

The latest ORU scandal involves allegations of misdeeds on the part of Richard Roberts, Roberts family members and school officials, employees and regents.

Three former Oral Roberts University professors sued the school and four administrators in Tulsa County District Court on Tuesday, alleging wrongful termination and wrongful causing of one professor’s resignation.

Those suing are Dr. John Swails, Dr. Tim Brooker and Dr. Paulita Brooker.

Those being sued are Oral Roberts University, Richard Roberts, Provost Mark Lewandowski, Dean Wendy Shirk and Vice Provost Jeff Ogle..

Numerous allegations both within and without the law suit have surfaced including the following:

The professors said they lost their jobs because they turned over to administrators a report that alleged the Richard Roberts family extensively spent university money for personal uses.

Tim Brooker said Roberts required him to make his students work for 2006 Tulsa mayoral candidate Randi Miller’s campaign. Doing so would be in violation of laws that prohibit nonprofit groups from getting involved in partisan political campaigns.

One of Richard and Lindsay Roberts’ children vandalized and removed athletic department equipment from ORU property.

University and ministries employees regularly do the homework of the Roberts’ children.

ORU paid $29,411 for one Roberts daughter to vacation with friends in Florida and the Bahamas and use the ORU jet for transportation.

Lindsay Roberts routinely uses ministries security personnel during personal vacations.

Lindsay Roberts awarded 13 non-need-based scholarships to friends of her children, two of whom had test scores below ORU’s admission requirement.

In response to the lawsuit the university released a statement which said, “It is important for ORU students and their families, faculty and staff, alumni, partners, as well as the general public to understand that this lawsuit is largely premised upon a compilation of incomplete statements, unsubstantiated rumors and innuendos. ORU will address these allegations through the legal process.”

A Tulsa World report on the developing scandal said that:

ORU senior Cornell Cross II said Roberts called a campuswide emergency meeting to pray “against the enemies” on Monday night in anticipation of the lawsuit being filed.

Regardless of the outcome of the lawsuit filed by the three former ORU professors the allegations against Richard Roberts and others are certain to draw the attention of the IRS and put at great risk the tax-exempt status of the ORU conglomerate. Once the IRS is on one’s case prayer, rubber chickens, loin cloths or even witch doctors do little if anything to forestall the inevitable.

And as if the “hard news” was not bad enough, all of the Tulsa World reports, several of which we link to below, are drawing immense reader comment and with these comments a flood of new allegations and acknowledgment of other alleged misdeeds on the part of the Roberts family are coming to public attention.

Oral Roberts Ministries and Oral Robers University have survived previous scandals such as when Oral Roberts himself supposedly encountered a 900-foot tall Jesus Christ wandering the ORU campus and which told Roberts to build a 66 story hospital, the ill-fated “City of Faith”.

Or when God supposedly told Oral Roberts that unless the “faithful” contributed millions to a fund raising drive that Oral would be “called home”.

Or when Richard Roberts divorced Patti Roberts and subsequently married Lindsay Roberts, his current wife.

But there’s something different about this scandal.

And what’s different is that Richard Roberts and wife Lindsay have to “deal with it”.

Oral is no longer involved in the operation of either the ministry or the university that bear his name, having been “put out to pasture”, turning the operations over to Richard.

Can ORU survive this scandal?

If Oral Roberts were still in command, probably, just like it survived every scandal before.

With Richard and Lindsay at the wheel?

Probably not, as in the opinion of this writer, odds are they will let the ship of ORU go down with them…

References:

ORU faces lawsuit

Former ORU professors suing university

ORU’s leader speaks on suit

Roberts says lawsuit is about money