Seriously… is this why we elect people to office? To talk about steroids and HGH?
Plus… what’s up with Roger’s lawyer massaging his back?
How sad is this? Ahmad Rashad gets married.
How could you divorce Phylicia (best known for The Cosby Show)
… and marry this woman?
p.s. – Why didn’t anyone tell me about this divorce?
Now that I’ve had some time to think about this, I want to try and discuss the lawsuit that has been filed against Oral Roberts University.
For those who don’t know… I attended ORU. Looking back, I really enjoyed my time there. High School was not enjoyable to me. College was so much better as I was able to be more social, develop friendships, play sports and, overall, just have fun. Also, beginning my Freshman year, I started taking on leadership roles as an Academic Peer Advisor and then successfully applied to become a Resident Advisor.
I can’t speak for most colleges, but the Resident Advisor position at ORU was pretty much a rule-enforcing one. Anything from talking to guys about shaving, to dress code, to curfew, to chapel attendance, RA’s were the ones who were supposed to make sure other students were abiding by the Honor Code (which every student was supposed to sign each year).
However, at ORU, as I’m sure is the case with other colleges and universities, there were students who were “above the law.” I’m guessing at most colleges, the stereotype is for athletes to be given breaks. While that holds true at ORU, another group of people – sons/daughters/relatives of highly-important religious leaders – probably had more of a golden ticket and none had it as well as the Roberts family.
After Oral stepped down as President of the University, his son Richard took over. By the time I came to ORU (2000), he had held that position for 7 years. Before coming to ORU, I really had no knowledge of Oral or Richard. After graduation, I had become very jaded to Richard and Lindsay due to a number of incidents that occurred during my 4 years.
I’m guessing few of you (besides Mrs. R.) have heard about the lawsuit that was filed last week against Richard and Lindsay. For those who are interested in reading it, here’s the link. The basic summary is: Three former professors have filed a lawsuit against the school claiming the university broke the law by getting involved in Tulsa’s mayoral race. They also have come forward with a document detailing how the Robert’s used school money to pay for numerous home remodeling projects, used the university jet for their daughter’s senior trip to the Bahamas, purchasing luxury cars, spending tens of thousands of dollars on clothes, awarding nonacademic scholarships to friends of their children and Lindsay sending scores of text messages on university-issued cell phones to people described in the lawsuit as “underage males.”
My reaction when I first heard and then read of this lawsuit? I have to admit, I was pretty happy about it. While I had heard numerous rumors of these things happening while I was at ORU, I never thought anything would happen because of how much control and power Richard and Lindsay have over anything ORU-related.
As time has passed, and I’ve read numerous comments by people regarding this topic. Those who are think they are guilty, share my feelings. Those who still support them counter with the following arguments: “Just not lest ye be judged”; “Innocent until proven guilty”; “Why would God still allow this ministry to prosper if Richard/Lindsay were corrupt?”, etc.
My feeling towards this situation hasn’t changed much. I’m still expecting them to be found guilty. Regardless of the outcome of the lawsuit, I still want Richard and Lindsay to step down from any sort of leadership of the university. I want an apology from Richard from the comments he made to the current students when this came out. I still feel sorry for all the students still going enrolled at ORU. And, finally, I’m glad I graduated when I did.
Absolute power corrupts absolutely.
This story is crazy (from While Seated):
In September ____, a group of African American high school students in Jena, Louisiana, asked the school for permission to sit beneath a “whites only” shade tree. (There was an unwritten rule that blacks couldn’t sit beneath the tree). The school said they didn’t care where students sat. The next day, students arrived at school to see three nooses (in school colors) hanging from the tree.The boys who hung the nooses were suspended from school for a few days. The school administration chalked it up as a harmless prank, but Jena’s black population didn’t take it so lightly. Fights and unrest started breaking out at school. The District Attorney, Reed Walters, was called in to directly address black students at the school and told them all he could “end their life with a stroke of the pen.”
Black students were assaulted at white parties. A white man drew a loaded rifle on three black teens at a local convenience store. (They wrestled it from him and ran away.) Someone tried to burn down the school, and on December 4th, a fight broke out that led to six black students being charged with attempted murder. To his word, the D.A. pushed for maximum charges, which carry sentences of eighty years. Four of the six are being tried as adults (ages 17 & 18) and two are juveniles.
Yesterday, I was in Jena for the first day of the trial for Mychal Bell, one of the Jena Six. The D.A., perhaps in response to public pressure, tried to get Bell to cop a plea. Bell refused, and today, jury selection began. After today, we’ll know whether or not the case will be tried in front of an all-white jury. Jena’s 85-percent white, and it remains to be seen whether or not the six can get a fair trial.
Horrible, right? This happened last year – 2006.
The following video explains a little more:
And you can go here for further information.
