Five weeks ago when I posted about 3 professors filing a lawsuit against Oral Roberts University, I made the the statement there would be lots to blog about in the days to come.

Well. Yeah. Two weeks after the professors lawsuit was filed the financial comptroller was fired. Red flag. A simple red flag because in the court papers  former professor Tim Brooker (one of the complainants) admitted he used his political science students for campaigns. Lot’s of drama since the suit was filed, the time-line is a busy one.

Late today Richard Roberts resigned as President of Oral Roberts University, effective immediately. 
The board of Regents will meet Monday to start their search for a new president. Roberts had been on ‘temporary leave’ since October 17th and received a vote of no confidence by university faculty November 14th.

The fired financial person, Trent Huddleston has filed a lawsuit against Oral Roberts University for wrongful termination. The suit also names The Board of Regents, the board of Oral Roberts Ministries, Robert and Lindsay Roberts. He says he was forced to cook the books, and list tens of thousands of dollars as expenses as opposed to assets. He says a lot of things that shed some light on earlier allegations.
He acknowledges in his  lawsuit he violated local, state and federal laws and defrauded the IRS and the public. 
His wrongful termination filing is here. and you can read what he has to say for himself.

And now students are filing lawsuits.

Cornell Cross II from Vermont started as a theology student at Oral Roberts University in 2005. He switched his major over to government, and is now claiming he was a target at the school after the professors filed their suit. He is claiming interference with business relationships, fraud, infliction of emotional  distress, civil conspiracy and negligence.
His court filing is here. He is asking for 10 thousand dollars in damages and costs.

Essentially Cornell Cross  II  is saying his degree won’t be worth spit. It’s called a devalued degree suit.

David Brown, a junior history major has filed a devalued degree suit, basically claiming since Dr. Swails (one of the 3 fired professors) is, er, history no one at ORU is qualified to teach him. His court filing is here.

Oral Roberts Evangelistic Association - Charity Navigator

When Richard Roberts stepped down he did so over a student holiday. This time his resignation as President (only) was announced late on a Friday holiday. A search of news outlets carrying this story around the world shows most picked up the wire story. Once again local paper The Tulsa World is leading the way with original reporting. The paper has a community of interested  and invested commenters, most polarized, with a lot to say.

Other blogs: Phoenix Preacher, The Richmond Democrat, Daily Kos, CT Liveblog, All Spin Zone