Tulsa World: ORU faculty vote 'no confidence' in president Richard Roberts

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ORU faculty vote 'no confidence' in president Richard Roberts

By APRIL MARCISZEWSKI World Staff Writer
Published: 11/13/2007 7:14 PM
Last Modified: 6/22/2008 1:32 AM

A quorum of tenured Oral Roberts University faculty voted “no confidence” in President Richard Roberts and voted in favor of “greater faculty governance and transparency of university finances” in a 3 1/2-hour meeting Monday night.

Donald R. Vance, professor of biblical languages and literature and one of three authors of a summary of the meeting, said tenured professors want to help ORU’s board of regents do what is right. The professorsµ motions let regents know the voice of the faculty, Vance said.

The vote of no confidence in Roberts as president and CEO of the university was made “without regard to the outcome of the current lawsuit against the university” and “is not to be construed as a judgment of guilt or innocence with regard to the present lawsuit against the president and the university,” according to the list of motions and summary of the meeting faxed to media by an attorney ' Gary Richardson ' for the three former professors who are suing ORU, Roberts and other ORU leadership.

Vance said he did not give the report to Richardson.

The vote regarding Roberts did not address his leadership of Oral Roberts Ministries, and “most people personally like him,” Vance said.

The professors voted “confidence” in ORU Provost Mark Lewandowski’s “call for greater faculty governance and transparency of university finances,” the second motion said.

That motion should not be interpreted as the faculty suggesting Lewandowski be the next ORU president, Vance said. The tenured faculty

also approved a motion to be involved in “determining selection criteria for and the actual selection of university leadership.”

The list of motions is signed by the professors who Vance said wrote the summary: Vance, chemistry professor Kenneth Weed and English professor Linda Gray.

The vote was “nearly unanimous,” Vance said. He declined to say the number of professors who voted in favor of the motions.

ORU’s tenured professors usually only meet once at the beginning of the year, he said. This was a special meeting.

Tenured professors have a different role at ORU than at other universities, he said. They are given tenure because they have “demonstrated a loyalty to this university and its mission.”

“We are charged with preserving the vision of the university,” Vance said.

ORU officials declined to comment on the professors’ motions, said ORU spokesman Jeremy Burton. By APRIL MARCISZEWSKI World Staff Writer

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	Report Comment Jeff in VA, (11/13/2007 7:30:51 PM) YIKES! . DOUBLE YIKES!!
	Report Comment Q, (11/13/2007 7:31:33 PM) Another step in the right direction. ORU can still survive and thrive under new leadership. The BOR needs to be replaced also.
	Report Comment Comment, (11/13/2007 7:32:38 PM) Well, good luck professors w/that statement you made. I support you; however, somebody has not read what Harry McNevin, former Regent has said, that Oral gave him a statement that no one but a Roberts would ever lead the University. So good luck w/your statement today.
	Report Comment Comment, (11/13/2007 7:34:17 PM) Ditto to #2. Just wipe the slate clean and start all over is my suggestion. And rename the school. Yikes is right.
	Report Comment Grasshopper, (11/13/2007 7:36:21 PM) is not to be construed as a judgment of guilt or innocence with regard to the present lawsuit against the president and the university - what? they just didnt have anything else to do, this is standard procedure? this is a strong indicator of the momentum shift. jmo
	Report Comment qqq, (11/13/2007 7:42:23 PM) I'm not sure I understand this meeting. I know that each "School" at ORU has a "Council of Tenured Faculty". I was unaware of any formal body of all the tenured faculty. This may have been a very special meeting indeed.
	Report Comment Todd, ORU Alum, 1988 Business Marketing, Fort Myers, Florida (11/13/2007 7:43:56 PM) Obviously the train is on the track and it ain't coming back. As well meaning as it might seem, the "no confidence" vote effectively short circuits the legal process. I might be wrong, but it appears the faculty were waiting for such an opening to pounce.
	Report Comment Grasshopper, (11/13/2007 7:44:04 PM) Things are not looking very good tonight for the weak link(s).
	Report Comment Comment, (11/13/2007 7:46:17 PM) Does anybody know if the BOR has to respond to this? Are they bound by some by laws, rules, etc. to respond to a statement by the faculty? It is my pray they do NOT blow this off.
	Report Comment New President, (11/13/2007 7:47:43 PM) Mark Lewandowski would be a great President of ORU.
	Report Comment qqq, (11/13/2007 7:48:08 PM) Another step down the vortex. This is a very big deal. It is basically a fiat that if the top administration is not changed quickly everyones resume will be on the street. . Would you sign up to attend a school where that was happening? . This places a real deadline to fix this before students make college decisions next spring.
	Report Comment walking in Memphis, (11/13/2007 7:48:46 PM) Gosh, do you think there could be a backlash from the BOR and the Roberts family towards the tenured professors for this perhaps "unauthorized" vote? I wholeheartedly agree with #4
	Report Comment Lloyd , (11/13/2007 7:48:56 PM) I attended Sunday school with Richard Roberts in the 50s. One Sunday he picked a fight with my brother who is two years younger than Roberts. My brother kicked his butt.
	Report Comment Comment, (11/13/2007 7:50:13 PM) Well, grandpa Oral said the devil was not going to get the school, so I guess that basically places Oral vs. The Faculty.
	Report Comment Kurt Nezbit, Tulsa (11/13/2007 7:52:46 PM) Its kinda like one of those projects, or ideas that you have to take on something....like cleaning out your garage! It doesn't seem like it will take that long, or really be all that much work, and before you know it your weekend is over. I really think that this ORU "project" is revealing a lot more junk than we all though it would.
	Report Comment Grasshopper, (11/13/2007 7:52:45 PM) this is a confirmation in writing, made public of what everyone already knew to be certain but were afraid to accept and believe, especially in those few iconic circles. where this places the students, god only knows. if we see a ground swell, against the odds finally, it will be a very interesting time to witness. that , to me, is the next indicator. the students rising up. jmo
	Report Comment Grasshopper, (11/13/2007 7:54:21 PM) 11. qqq. great minds think alike
	Report Comment qqq, (11/13/2007 7:55:41 PM) The time frame and negotiating room for the Roberts family and the BOR just got much smaller. The faculty is the body with the highest credibility here. For them to come down so strongly is a very big deal. . The faculty have many reasons to be unhappy and the the Swails firing may have been the last straw. What RR did to Swails was a direct attack on every tenured faculty member on campus. This may have nothing to do with the lawsuit, but it has everything to do with the way Swails was treated.
	Report Comment Joe-Allen Doty, Tulsa, Oklahoma (11/13/2007 7:56:28 PM) One can personally like another, yet one can still not have any confidence in relying on that other person. -- Besides, whom or what group of folks decided the university should be named "Oral Roberts University?" I remember hearing Oral Roberts saying numerous times, "God said, 'Build me a university . . .';" I never hear Oral Roberts say, "God said, 'Build yourself a university'."
	Report Comment Comment, (11/13/2007 7:58:38 PM) #12, I bet this does come back to bite the faculty in the butt. I pray it doesn't but I'll bet it does. Grandpa Oral won't go down w/out a fight for baby Richard and his Monument. But these professors knew what they were doing and I tip my hat to them. This is on the front page of The Oklahoman now also.
	Report Comment cindy lou who, (11/13/2007 8:00:40 PM) God must be first. I am proud of their bravery and hope Richard and Lindsey clean up their lives.
	Report Comment Todd, ORU Alum, 1988 Business Marketing, Fort Myers, Florida (11/13/2007 8:01:38 PM) Should we call it Joe-Allen Doty University or JADU?
	Report Comment qqq, (11/13/2007 8:02:12 PM) The tenured faculty and the administration are the parts of the university with the longest term stake in the outcome here. The non-tenured faculty may be just passing through. The students certainly are. It's a lot easier to put together a new administration than a new faculty. Anyone with any genuine stake here will see that. . The tenured faculty must have been essentially unanimous, as the article said. Under no other circumstances would this have been done. This is a declaration of war.
	Report Comment qqq, (11/13/2007 8:03:44 PM) BOR - welcome to rock; welcome to hard place. . If this doesn't give the BOR some backbone, nothing will.
	Report Comment Grasshopper, (11/13/2007 8:04:05 PM) the line has been drawn in the sand, we have not two, not three, but many heros rising to the occasion. word will spread of this around campus, tomorrow the entire student body will be shocked and amaized. window?- mayby a few days to act directly.

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