3 Former Professors Sue Oral Roberts University

[NJCher]

Repukes: seems like they act the same everywhere. I first ran across this story while reading the Chronicle of Higher Educations' Daily Report. Their take on it was a little different than the AP's below. The Chronicle's article emphasized that the professors accused the president of Oral Roberts for misusing funds to finance an extravagant lifestyle.

Associated Press - October 2, 2007 1:15 PM ET

TULSA, Okla. (AP) - Three former professors have filed a lawsuit against Oral Roberts University, alleging they were wrongfully fired after they reported the private school's involvement in a local political race.

Former professors John Swails, Tim Brooker and Paulita Brooker filed the suit Tuesday in Tulsa County District Court. The former professors allege that ORU President Richard Roberts and his executives requested that then-government professor Tim Brooker use his students and resources to aid Tulsa County Commissioner Randi Miller's unsuccessful campaign to become Tulsa mayor in 2005.

Such use of university resources would violate state and federal law because of the university's non-profit status. University spokesman Jeremy Burton did not immediately return a phone message left Tuesday seeking comment.

Link: http://www.kten.com/Global/story.asp?S=7157904



Cher

[TlalocW]

1. As a citizen of Tulsa, I wouldn't mind seeing ORU

Taken down a notch or two - lose their non-profit status, pay some hefty fines, maybe even close down so Tulsa can start to move away from the religious-insanity that ORU helps heap on us. Every now and then the old man visits from Palm Springs to announce that once again, the Devil has been showing up uninvited in his bedroom at night, mocking him and promising to take away the pain that Oral suffers from (not sure from what, but he's in pain) if only he'll reject God, and of course, Oral doesn't, and then Jesus shows up and takes away some (only some) of his pain as a reward for being a good servant. And he spews all this on the university's TV show when funds are low to get people whipped up into a religious frenzy, and then everyone lays hands on Oral and tries to heal him of the rest of his pain, etc.

This has LITERALLY (and I'm using that correctly - I'm not using it wrong like most people when they mean figuratively) happened twice since I've moved here in 1998. I just wish they would use some of the money they raise to actually go to the university because the campus is looking pretty sad - paint peeling, certain sidewalks sunken in, posters for self-guided tours bleached out from the sun shining on them for years, and of course, it's just pure ugly late 1960s/early 1970s architecture all over the place. My favorite is what I call the Legion of Doom Headquarters (from the Superfriends cartoon).



TlalocW