Oral Roberts University regents take stronger role after lawsuit

ORU’s governing board has become more “hands-on” amid the university’s legal turmoil, the panel’s chairman says.

Oral Roberts University’s board of regents is stepping up its role at the college following allegations made in a lawsuit, Chairman George Pearsons said in an interview Tuesday.

“The board is very quickly becoming . . . much more hands-on,” said Pearsons, pastor of Eagle Mountain International Church in Newark, Texas.

Its role is to set and oversee policy, he said.

“The board has the oversight of the university, and we’re responsible for what goes on,” he said. “We have every right to ask questions, to investigate.”

Three former ORU professors have sued ORU, its board, its president and three other administrators for allegedly wrongfully firing them or forcing them to resign. Their lawsuit and an attached report contain allegations of misconduct by President Richard Roberts and his family, among other claims.

Pearsons said he received the report that is attached to the lawsuit about two weeks before the lawsuit was filed. A few days before the lawsuit hit, the board’s audit and compliance committee started an investigation into the allegations, he said. The investigation continues.

On Tuesday, the board signed a contract with a Washington law firm that will oversee an independent audit of the allegations, Pearsons said. He said he needed permission from attorneys to name the firm, but he said the board had searched for a company that was high-profile, out of state and had never done business with ORU.

“I have to prove we are not sweeping anything under the rug,” he said. “Everything’s on the table — nothing to hide.”

ORU is working to regain the confidence of the community, alumni and others, he said.

Pearsons said he and Co-Interim President Billy Joe Daugherty, co-pastor of Victory Christian Center in Tulsa, agree that the investigations need to cover ORU’s hiring and firing procedures — and everything related to the lawsuit’s allegations.

“We’re just really taking a hard look at ourselves,” he said. “Every decision we (regents) make must be in the best interest of the university.”

Pearsons became the board chairman about five months ago and expected to focus on raising money for ORU, he said. He compared his shifted attention to President George W. Bush’s focus on domestic issues before the terrorist attacks on Sept. 11, 2001.

“This is a warning to other boards just how serious it is that they do their job,” Pearsons said.

One of the professors suing ORU, John Swails, said this week that Roberts once referred to ORU as “my university.”

But two weeks ago, Roberts’ wife, Lindsay Roberts, said she and her husband had submitted themselves to the board of regents, which decided when the couple would speak publicly about the lawsuit and will decide when and if Richard Roberts returns from his leave of absence to resume his presidency.

Regarding ORU’s long-term future, Pearsons said he thinks ORU’s founding purpose of evangelism will carry the college forward without a prominent personality, such as Oral or Richard Roberts, at the helm.

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