Scandal Brewing at Oral Roberts U.
Pastor Dale Morgan
Oct 5, 7:03 PM EDT
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Scandal Brewing at Oral Roberts U.*
By JUSTIN JUOZAPAVICIUS
Associated Press Writer
TULSA, Okla. (AP) -- Twenty years ago, televangelist Oral Roberts said
he was reading a spy novel when God appeared to him and told him to
raise $8 million for Roberts' university, or else he would be "called home."
Now, his son, Oral Roberts University President Richard Roberts, says
God is speaking again, telling him to deny lurid allegations in a
lawsuit that threatens to engulf this 44-year-old Bible Belt college in
scandal.
Richard Roberts is accused of illegal involvement in a local political
campaign and lavish spending at donors' expense, including numerous home
remodeling projects, use of the university jet for his daughter's senior
trip to the Bahamas, and a red Mercedes convertible and a Lexus SUV for
his wife, Lindsay.
She is accused of dropping tens of thousands of dollars on clothes,
awarding nonacademic scholarships to friends of her children and sending
scores of text messages on university-issued cell phones to people
described in the lawsuit as "underage males."
At a chapel service this week on the 5,300-student campus known for its
60-foot-tall bronze sculpture of praying hands, Roberts said God told
him: "We live in a litigious society. Anyone can get mad and file a
lawsuit against another person whether they have a legitimate case or
not. This lawsuit ... is about intimidation, blackmail and extortion."
San Antonio televangelist John Hagee, a member of the ORU board of
regents, said the university's executive board "is conducting a full and
thorough investigation."
Colleagues fear for the reputation of the university and the future of
the Roberts' ministry, which grew from Southern tent revivals to one of
the most successful evangelical empires in the country, hauling in tens
of millions of dollars in contributions a year. The university reported
nearly $76 million in revenue in 2005, according to the IRS.
Oral Roberts is 89 and lives in California. He holds the title of
chancellor, but the university describes him as semi-retired, and his
son presides over day-to-day operations on the campus, which had a
modern, space-age design when it was built in the early 1960s but now
looks dated, like Disney's Tomorrowland.
Cornell Cross II, a senior from Burlington, Vt., said he is looking to
transfer to another school because the scandal has "severely devalued
and hurt the reputation of my degree."
"We have asked and asked and asked to see the finances of our school and
what they're doing with our money, and we've been told no," said, Cross
who is majoring in government. "Now we know why. As a student, I'm not
going to stand for it any longer."
The allegations are contained in a lawsuit filed Tuesday by three former
professors. They sued ORU and Roberts, alleging they were wrongfully
dismissed after reporting the school's involvement in a local political
race.
Richard Roberts, according to the suit, asked a professor in 2005 to use
his students and university resources to aid a county commissioner's bid
for Tulsa mayor. Such involvement would violate state and federal law
because of the university's nonprofit status. Up to 50 students are
alleged to have worked on the campaign.
The professors also said their dismissals came after they turned over to
the board of regents a copy of a report documenting moral and ethical
lapses on the part of Roberts and his family. The internal document was
prepared by Stephanie Cantese, Richard Roberts' sister-in-law, according
to the lawsuit.
An ORU student repairing Cantese's laptop discovered the document and
later provided a copy to one of the professors.
It details dozens of alleged instances of misconduct. Among them:
- A longtime maintenance employee was fired so that an underage male
friend of Mrs. Roberts could have his position.
- Mrs. Roberts - who is a member of the board of regents and is referred
to as ORU's "first lady" on the university's Web site - frequently had
cell-phone bills of more than $800 per month, with hundreds of text
messages sent between 1 a.m. to 3 a.m. to "underage males who had been
provided phones at university expense."
- The university jet was used to take one daughter and several friends
on a senior trip to Orlando, Fla., and the Bahamas. The $29,411 trip was
billed to the ministry as an "evangelistic function of the president."
- Mrs. Roberts spent more than $39,000 at one Chico's clothing store
alone in less than a year, and had other accounts in Texas and
California. She also repeatedly said, "As long as I wear it once on TV,
we can charge it off." The document cites inconsistencies in clothing
purchases and actual usage on TV.
- Mrs. Roberts was given a white Lexus SUV and a red Mercedes
convertible by ministry donors.
- University and ministry employees are regularly summoned to the
Roberts' home to do the daughters' homework.
- The university and ministry maintain a stable of horses for exclusive
use by the Roberts' children.
- The Roberts' home has been remodeled 11 times in the past 14 years.
Tim Brooker, one of the professors who sued, said he fears for the
university's survival if certain changes aren't made.
"All over that campus, there are signs up that say, `And God said, build
me a university, build it on my authority, and build it on the Holy
Spirit,'" Brooker said. "Unfortunately, ownership has shifted."