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Posted On
12/11/2007

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The Oral Roberts University Board Begins to Shuffle

Interesting news from Tulsa. The ORU Board shuffle has begun. Many have said that Richard Roberts shouldn't have taken the fall alone for the allegations in the lawsuit. I understand from news reports that the professors brought the allegations to the board first, who turned a deaf ear. Then when the profs went to Richard, they allegedly got fired. So the board seems to be as culpable as Richard. So the Tulsa World's report is very interesting. Two TV evangelists out and an ORU grad who's also a businessman in. The shaking continues….

This entry was posted on Tuesday, December 11th, 2007 at 10:13 am and is filed under Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

  • Bart

    Apparently some are taking the 90 day challenge to to obtain an additional $62 million seriously.  I can't imagine that it is a coincidence that the two "stepping down" are at the center of their own controversies and at the center of Sen. Grassley's investigation.

  • Good Commentary

    It appears on the Tulsa World comments section that a lot of people feel that this is too little, and that there needs to be a whole lot more purging, and that there is still too much control in the hands of the Roberts.

    However, from a perspective of large corporations and their decision-making processes, I think that this IS truly genuine steps into a new direction.  I believe that an about face is practically impossible with a ship so large, but that consistent change into this new direction can turn the ship pretty quickly.

    I don't think it is all about the $62 million awaiting them, but that does help encourage expediting the process, doesn't it?

    I have actually been surprised that things have been changing at the rate in which they are changing.  I am very interested in whether ORU will actually work to settle with the professors.  I am wondering if ORU can present enough humility to the professors that the professors (at least one of them) will even return to ORU.  Richard may be in for a longer ride since I doubt he will publicly own up to any wrong-doing, but if ORU steps up to the plate, and admits guilt, and makes a reasonable effort to correct things, we will find out more about the true intentions of the professors.

    At least it APPEARS that the school may be making progress, that is a good thing for those of us that think the school has much more potential to realize.

  • Elizabeth Conley

    Over the past decade I've heard a lot of variations on the theme of "perception is reality".  I can't agree with that, but obviously what people think they see really matters.

    My take on the Professors' lawsuit is that it is a medium to leverage greater transparency for ORU.

    Regardless of how the suit plays out, the biggest stakes are in the game of public opinion, not the court battle.  It's public opinion that will determine how much transparency and accountability ORU will go forward with.  ORU's legal team would be super successful if the could swing the tide of public opinion against the professors and make ORU look like victims of a malicious, greedy, unreasonable attack.  Unfortunately, that may not be as easy as they hope.  ORU has vulnerabilities that cry out for a quick settlement.  The professors are actually better able to afford stalling than ORU and R. Roberts can. 

    Factors such as Senator Grassley's investigation into televangelists and random church scandals that will probably meet the public eye in the next few months are wild cards.   If some of ORU's past victims speak out, such as the lady professor who reported sexual harrassment and was subsequently let go, then public opinion could easily harden against ORU. 

    What degree of transparency and accountability would satisfy Dr. Swails and the Brookers?  That's not known.  They've remained remarkably quiet about that.  Will ORU and R. Roberts grant the plaintiffs those concessions in mediation?  It is unlikely they will.  ORU's real goal in mediation is to sway public opinion in ORU's direction.  By asking for mediation, ORU and R. Roberts seem like the more reasonable parties.  It will probably play well in the press.  Trouble is, unsuccessful mediation will slow the case down, and time is not on ORU or R. Roberts' side. 

    ORU and R. Roberts should send their lawyers into mediation with significant concessions in the areas of accountability and transparency.  By seeming to lose, ORU and R. Roberts will win.  That's a radical strategy that requires a strong grasp of paradox an a huge dose of humility.  It would be truly impressive.

  • Good Commentary

    Elizabeth you have some good points. There are many conflicts on the RR side of things. I read at one time that he said that God told him to fight this, and we live in a litigious society, yada yada, and then he resigns. I wonder which of these precedents he will follow in the next decision he has to make.

    I believe that the lawsuit will end with RR and ORU taking blame and paying money and inviting the professors back, or a combination of the three depending on the actual professor. Regardless of whether it is confessed blame, or court-determined blame, it will be found. As someone who worked there, and did witness some patterns that ring true in the wrongful termination case, I don’t think that the professors will have a weak case.

    I will be very curious to see what happens if ORU and RR do not see eye-to-eye on negotiating with the professors. Is there hope that ORU might settle, and be dropped from the case while RR continues to fight?

    I think often what people are losing sight of – is that this is a wrongful termination case, and the scandalous allegations, are really not part of the case at all – other than the fact that bringing these to the attention of the BOR is the alleged reason that the professors were fired.

    The “Public Opinion” – in my mind can actually be divided into 2 publics. The Christian public, and the unsaved. To the Christian public – which includes MANY donors (past, present, and potential future) – repentance and humility is what they are looking for in order to grant redemption. The unsaved public has been given an extremely bad picture regardless of what RR or ORU does – and humility and repentance will mean much less to them.

    I said early on in discussions, that there would be more donors lining up, if ORU would start making good decisions, and if leadership changed. We have seen this start to happen, and we are seeing NEW donors, that never wanted to throw their money into this place, start to be led to give, and to assist. ORU seems to be taking a humble position, and I am not talking about only the BOR, the provost has made some of the most humble statements in an official letter to the BOR, the BOR is starting to listen to the faculty, and the faculty is starting to stand up for what is right.

    RR is learning humility in a much more difficult manner. I hope that he will publicly humble himself, but I am not sure that he will go that route.

    — Side-note, hey Phil, now that I opened an account, I don’t have the formatting options that I had before! My line breaks aren’t showing up…

  • Bart Breen

    I think the person to watch in a great deal of this is Mark Lewandewsky, the Academic Provost.  Although he is named in the suit, he was the one who issued the statement that he would resign if Richard were placed back into leadership.  He's identified himself strongly with the faculty in their vote of non-confidence.  Despite his being named in the suit by virtue of his position, his information and stands will be a pretty clear indicator of how strongly the faculty identifies with the former staff who brought this suit.  If so, ORU as an institution and Richard are going to have not only legal problems but publicity problems as these details come out in court.

    Small wonder ORU wants to put a gag order and send this to mediation.

    It's hard for me to understand however, how they think there will be grounds for it when Richard used the ORU chapel services and the Larry King show to respond to the challenges.

  • Good Commentary

    Bart,

    Mark is the one I was mentioning in my previous post… In his resignation letter he associated with becoming part of that culture of fear… He is the one that had security officers escort one of the professors from the campus. I interpret his more recent actions (resignation offer, and faculty leadership)as an act of humility, as well as an act of trying to bring some restitution to the part he previously played in the culture, as well as a recognition of how he was persuaded by that culture to act in a way that he now regrets.

    I am hopeful that he will continue to play a positive role.

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