TULSA, Okla. (ABP) — Just days after Richard Roberts resigned from his position as president of Oral Roberts University, regents there are scrambling to find someone else to fill the post.
Roberts resigned Nov. 23 in a letter sent to the school's board of regents, who met in closed-door sessions Nov. 26 and 27 to begin the search for a new president and decide how to handle the resignation of Mark Lewandowski, the school's provost. Lewandowski resigned Nov. 15, reportedly saying he could not serve in good conscience under Roberts' leadership.
The school has been beset by controversy since allegations about Roberts' stewardship of ORU resources and lurid accusations about his wife's sexual proclivities surfaced in October.
He had taken a leave of absence in October in order to fight a wrongful-termination lawsuit, filed Oct. 2, by three former professors. The lawsuit says the school had been inappropriately involved in a local political race and that Roberts and his wife, Lindsay, had used the university jet for personal trips and spent thousands of school dollars on horse stables and home renovations.
Lindsay Roberts is also accused of doling out school scholarships to family friends and sending late-night text messages on university cell phones to “underage males.” The couple has denied the charges.
Earlier this month, a majority of tenured faculty gave Roberts a vote of “no confidence.”
In his resignation letter, Roberts said he loves the 44-year-old school “with all my heart. I love the students, faculty, staff and administration, and I want to see God's best for all of them.”
The 5,000-plus students at the university, which is known for its integration of academia and Pentecostalism, sign an honor code promising not to lie, steal, swear, drink or smoke. It is millions of dollars in debt, according to the Tulsa World.
The son of charismatic evangelist and school founder Oral Roberts, Richard Roberts remains chairman and chief executive of Oral Roberts Ministries. He also continues to sit on ORU's board of regents and lives in a university-owned home.
A statement on the school's website says executive regent Billy Joe Daugherty will continue to assume administrative responsibilities of the office of the president while working with Oral Roberts, who still holds the office of chancellor.
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