After Scandal, Students are Leaving Oral Roberts University

Between students looking to transfer out and a reduced number of applications, Oral Roberts University could see as much as a 13% drop in enrollment come fall as the fallout continues from the financial and sex allegation scandal involving Richard Roberts and his wife (who has been alleged to have a predeliction for under age boys). Personally, I cannot attending a university based on a kooky Christianist agenda, but I am sure some of the students attended with either good intentions or as a result of parental pressure. Now, they are rightfull concerned about the marketability of their diplomas in the wake of the scandal. It's unfortunate for these students that the Roberts were unsrupulous frauds who used the university to enrich themselves. Here are some highlights from the Virginian Pilot's AP coverage of the story:

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TULSA, Okla. (AP) -- As Oral Roberts University prepares to hand out diplomas to its Class of 2008, Anna Siebring, a junior, will be mailing out applications to transfer to another school. Siebring, a government major, is among many students having second thoughts about staying at Oral Roberts after six months of scandal at the evangelical Christian university. She and others fear the furor will reduce the value of any degree they earn there. Some graduates worry that they will have to try twice as hard to market themselves to potential employers after Saturday's commencement.

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Two university employees who spoke on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the situation said they have been told a much higher figure: around 400. That would amount to a startling drop of almost 13 percent. Oral Roberts spokesman Jeremy Burton said the decline has less to do with students leaving and more to do with fewer new ones enrolling.

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Administrators are urging patience from professors and students. Last week, Fagin conceded it would take "a while to turn a big ship." Similarly, Green said it will take years to make necessary overhauls and begin rebuilding trust. He has already dissolved the old board of regents and established a new set of bylaws.

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But that doesn't appear enough for sophomore Andrew Saah, who has already been accepted at the University of Maryland as a transfer student and is thinking about making the jump. He said Oral Roberts needs to change its culture to give more voice to its students.

Oral Roberts University May Improperly Funneled $1Billion a Year

The previously alleged financial improprieties at Oral Roberts University pale in comparison to the newest allegations that indicate that perhaps a billion dollars or more per year may have been laundered through the finances of the university. Unfortuantely, based on the other stories that have been reported to date, I would not be surprised if the allegations were true. Yet another example of the corrupt practices of the supposedly holier than thou set at ORU. Here are some highlights from Yahoo News (http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080208/ap_on_re_us/oral_roberts_scandal;_ylt=AvdtTbb5uKN4oHSLsRvrLhME1vAI):

TULSA, Okla. - A former senior accountant at Oral Roberts University alleges that more than $1 billion annually was inappropriately funneled through the school. Trent Huddleston claims in a lawsuit filed Thursday 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.

Named as defendants are Richard Roberts, the school's former president, and his wife, Lindsay, along with former regents. Huddleston's lawsuit, the latest to hit the scandal-plagued university, amended a complaint he filed in late November against ORU.

The initial complaint alleged Huddleston was ordered to help Richard and Lindsay Roberts "cook the books" by hiding improper and illegal financial wrongdoing from authorities and the public. It also claimed that he was directed against his will to falsely list thousands of dollars as expenses rather than assets — which were spent remodeling the home of Richard and Lindsay Roberts — in order to defraud the Internal Revenue Service and other agencies.

GOP Economic Policy - Income Inequality Worst Since 1920's

Chimperator Bush's Amerika is certainly becoming a less friendly place for the lower income earners. Of course, Bush's main domestic policy has been to (A) cut taxes for the wealthy and (2) allow lax regulation so that corporate America can earn larger profits. Thus, this headline should be of no surprise. Here are some highlights from RawStory (http://rawstory.com/news/2007/Wealthy_grabbing_larger_share_of_US_1012.html):

The superrich are gobbling up an ever larger piece of the economic pie, and the poor are seeing their share of earnings shrink: new IRS data shows the top 1 percent of Americans are claiming a larger share of national income than at any time since before the Great Depression. The top percentile of wealthy Americans earned 21.2 percent of all income in 2005, up from 19 percent in 2004, according to new Internal Revenue Service data published in the Wall Street Journal Friday. Americans in the bottom 50 percent of wage earners saw their share of income shrink to 12.8 percent in 2005, down from 13.4 percent.

The Journal notes that many Americans fear the economy is entering a recession, and the IRS data show income for the median earner fell 2 percent between 2000 and 2005 to $30,881. Earnings for the top 1 percent grew to $364,657 -- a 3 percent uptick.

Revised Lawsuit Against ORU Makes New Allegations

Having read the first lawsuit filed against Oral Roberts University, one would have thought that there was not much more that could come out. Wrong!!! A revised lawsuit was filed yesterday (see it here: http://www.tulsaworld.com/webextra/content/2007/pdfs/orusuit.pdf) that alleges even more titillating misbehavior, particularly by Lindsay Roberts [pictured at left], the University's "first lady," who seems to have a real liking for underage boys. Here are some highlights:

The suit also alleges that three days after the original lawsuit was filed earlier this month, the school's financial comptroller, a 26-year ORU employee, was fired.''Within hours of this loyal employee's unceremonious removal from his office, witnesses have reported that voluminous materials and documents were shredded and destroyed....''

[M]ore details are added to several of the allegations, especially allegations involved Lindsay Roberts and an unnamed teen boy.The report says that dead-bolt locks were installed on all bedroom doors at the Richard Roberts residence at the insistence of his oldest daughter.'' This was precipitated by Mrs. Roberts repeatedly moving into the home her 16 year old male 'friend,' which made her daughters uncomfortable,'' the assessment says.

The assessment also says: ''Mrs. Roberts has personally spent the night in the ORU guest house with an underage male on nine separate occasions.''The report also says there are photos of Lindsay Roberts and an underaged male smoking at the president's residence, and 29 photos of her and an underage male alone in her sports car after midnight.The assessment goes on to say a longtime employee was fired so the same underage male companion could have the position.

Readers might also want to check out comments being posted on the Tulsa World article, (http://www.tulsaworld.com/news/article.aspx?articleID=071012_1__Three43533) some of which are by former Oral Roberts University employees - many are most unflattering. Here's are two examples:

Former ORU Slave, Tulsa WOW!!! No big surprise. I worked at ORU and was disgusted from day 1. On my very first day, I saw the youngest Roberts daughter, Chloe, driving a Lexus SUV, when she was 16 years old!!! And Lyndsey driving a little red german sports car!!! And Tricky Dick with his entourage of cronies!!! Showing up at athletic events like he was the "King of the castle". Richard Roberts is no more a holy-man, than I am the president of the United States. He's a preacher's kid (if you can even consider his daddy a preacher & not a crook/quack), that noticed that evangelism was where the money was. PERIOD!!! He was lazy & arrogant, and saw the way to make an easy buck. Riding daddy's coat-tails has brought him riches beyond most people's belief. And, now, his arrogance has brought about his undoing. This whole debacle can be explained a very simple way. He & his family thought they were above earthly & divine laws.

Cherry, Tulsa: I hear that Mrs. Roberts was a Mrs. Robinson at some time. That does not surprise me. She was blaming her girls for making cell phone calls to boys. Yeah, right. Now I know why females are NOT allowed in male dorms. Because Mrs. Robinson, oops I mean, Mrs. Roberts was on the prowl and didn't want to be caught. Well, guess what, we all know now. I can't wait to see this all come out in court. I hope all evangelist's learn from this. We common folk are only going to take so much.

Professors Sue Oral Roberts University President

It looks like when they are not trolling men's rooms and parks for tricks, the paragons of virtue of the far right are dipping into the non-profit till so that they can live lavishly. This New York Times article (http://www.nytimes.com/2007/10/11/education/11roberts.html?_r=1&oref=slogin)looks at the financial scandel at Oral Roberts University. This University requires a minister recommendation for prospective students (http://admissions.oru.edu/minister_recommendation.pdf) and has an Honor Code which prohibits stealing, cheating, lying, etc. ( http://www.oru.edu/university/departments/admissions/code-of-honor-pledge.pdf), not to mention nasty homosexual acts. Unfortunately, it sounds like Richard Roberts and his wife were exempted from the Honor Code requirements. Here are a few of the article highlights:

A suit filed by three former professors charges financial, political and personal irregularities by the president of Oral Roberts University, including a claim that he illegally mobilized students to campaign for a Republican mayoral candidate.

The ex-professors, citing a secret internal report by an official of the Oral Roberts Ministries, linked to the university in Tulsa, Okla., sued on Oct. 2. They also contended that the Roberts house on the campus had been remodeled 11 times in 14 years, that the university jet took family members on trips and that the family’s university-paid cellphones sent text messages to “under-age males — often between 1 a.m. and 3 a.m.” The plaintiffs said “some of the more salacious entries” were omitted from the suit “to preserve, as much as possible, the remaining positive image of the university.”

Tax law strictly limits the political activities of nonprofit groups, as well as the use of a charity’s assets by insiders like the Roberts family. The university’s reported ownership of a plane might also raise questions, lawyers said. Harvard, the nation’s wealthiest nonprofit institution, does not own a plane.

Some reports indicate have that Mrs. Roberts was racking up $800 a month phone bills text messaging under age males between 1 and 3 AM. It sounds like a regular Sodom and Gomorrah!! More information can be found here: http://www.tulsaworld.com/webextra/content/2007/oru-lawsuit/default.html A copy of the lawsuit - which needs to be read to be believed is here: http://www.tulsaworld.com/webextra/content/2007/pdfs/Swails_vs_ORU.pdf