The ongoing battle rages on at ORU, as a judge yesterday refused to dismiss the case against the University for wrongful termination of professors Tim and Paulita Brooker. The professors alledge they were terminated after they discovered wrongdoing by the then-president of the University, Richard Roberts, according to a report in The Oklahoman.

Although he did not dismiss the case, KSWO in Lawton reports that, “District Judge Rebecca Nightingale…tossed out some of the professors’ allegations, including breach of contract claims against Roberts and ORU officials.”
District Judge Rebecca Nightingale also tossed out some of the professors’ allegations, including breach of contract claims against Roberts and ORU officials.

Attorney Gary Richardson is challenging Oral Robert’s University to publicize an audit done by the new chairman of the board of trustees. Richardson is representing several defendants against Oral Roberts university.

The Joplin Globe reports:

Mart Green, the Oklahoma City businessman who donated $70 million to the school and became chairman its new board of trustees last month, said Monday he didn’t have access to the report and didn’t know if it could be released publicly.

“We need to get more information from our legal team before we make that decision,” Green said in a statement issued through the university. “Like I said before, the results from the audit our family performed showed we could fully support ORU with our proposed changes.

Richardson questioned whether Green, had truly “seen everything” during the audit.

Meanwhile, Richard Roberts has requested that the entire lawsuit be dismissed. According to a report in the Tulsa World, Roberts claims two of the employees suing for wrongful termination were actually contract employees, and not eligible to sue for wrongful termination.

OKPNS has reported previously on the financial and legal woes of Oral Roberts University, regarding its former President, Richard Roberts and his wife, Lindsey. The Mardel’s founder recently bailed the university out provided it met certain conditions.

But the saga continues.

Newser is reporting:

More than $1 billion a year was inappropriately funneled through Oral Roberts University, a lawsuit by a former senior accountant at the scandal-plagued school alleges.

Trent Huddleston claims in a lawsuit filed Thursday in Tulsa County District Court that he discovered an “unrestricted” account used to funnel “unusually large” sums of money through the university each month _ which would exceed $1 billion on an annual basis _ that wasn’t used for any legitimate university purpose.

He says he was discharged because school officials feared he would reveal that the account existed.

[...]

University spokesman Jeremy Burton dismissed any wrongdoing late Thursday, saying allegations of inappropriately funneling money through accounts had “no basis in fact.” John Tucker, an attorney for ORU, said the petition appeared to be “grounded in fantasy.”

Huddleston’s lawsuit, the latest to hit the scandal-plagued school, amended a complaint he filed in late November against ORU. (more)

The Tulsa World is reporting:

“It appears that many of the former board members were actual participants in the funneling of money through the university for their own eventual personal use, and thus, the foxes were watching the hen house,” says former accountant Trent Huddleston’s lawsuit.

The money “was not used for any legitimate purpose” that Huddleston knew, his lawsuit says.

It’s been more than a month since the owner of Mardel Christian Office Supply, Mart Green, offered debt ridden Oral Roberts University a 62 million dollar lifeline.

Still, the school’s leaders haven’t decided whether to take the money.

They’re expected to discuss the offer again early next week.

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Creflo Dollar resigned from the regents, and Benny Hinn is now a “regent emeritus” with no voting power. The evangelist Creflo Dollar has resigned from the Oral Roberts University board of regents, and another evangelist, Benny Hinn, has lost his status as a voting member of the board.

ORU’s spokesman Jeremy Burton confirmed Wednesday that Dollar had resigned and that Hinn had been named a “regent emeritus” without a vote on the board. Both refused last week to respond to a Senate inquiry into lavish spending by evangelists.

A Canadian businessman, Richard Pearson, has been named to ORU’s board of business regents. Pearson, who operates a bus company, was formerly on the nonvoting portion of the board.

Burton had no comment on the reasons for the changes.

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From Tulsa Today:

By David Arnett, Publisher

Editorial: In the June 17, 1988, issue of the Independent Student News, students at Tulsa’s Oral Roberts University voiced concerns about the financial standing, administrative competence, and righteousness of leadership in administration of the school. It was the first of many articles and a long effort to defend the voices of the students. If it was a battle, the students lost; those who fought are long gone to more productive daily struggles. Oral and Richard Roberts always got their way. They abused everyone to accomplish whatever ego-driven mission they had in mind – not once, but repeatedly. Sunday, the Tulsa daily newspaper headlined, “ORU alumni support sought,” but should anyone rally to save the school? Been there, tried that – when many of us were students. In the 1988 piece, students defended professors, writing, “The average salary for a professor at ORU is approximately $18,000, compared to the national average of $35,000.” They listed the desperate public calls for money from the Robertses, including, but not limited to: 1985 – $15 million to construct a healing center, 1986 – $8 million to “save” Oral’s life and send medical missionaries to the world, 1987 – $2.5 million to “adopt-a-student” – and yet no student ever got a check.” Where was the money going, they asked? Students answered their own question by listing the private jet, the $500,000 parsonage, the Palm Springs home, the Beverly Hills home, the country club memberships, the luxury apartments atop the City of Faith, and Oral’s own $94,000 tax-free salary. They asked, “If there is so much money floating around at ORU, why do professors have to sell their homes, have their utilities shut off, pull their children out of college, and literally starve to death, while ORU’s fearless leader sits atop his golden tower?” Students at the time also tried to work within the system to help their professors, but the administration refused to allow the student senate to collect an offering for struggling faculty members at chapel. The administration offered to “give professors a one-time pay raise (of 6 percent) if they collect up to 70 percent of student delinquent accounts”… and sign an employment contract without knowing what benefits they were to receive. Read more…

Oklahoma City businessman Mart Green said Tuesday that he planned to donate $70 million to the debt-ridden university.

Green, founder of Mardel, a Christian office and educational supply store chain, said he decided to help after watching media reports about the school, which recently revealed that it was more than $50 million in debt. He never attended the university and does not know the Roberts family, he said. Read More