Never let it be said that black institutions have the market cornered on corruption and dysfunction.
One of America’s leading Christian universities has been hit by lurid allegations of sexual and financial misconduct, the latest scandal to engulf the world of televangelism.Good lord, talk about a mess! Where's Chris Hansen when you really need him?
The president of Oral Roberts University, which sits in the heart of America’s Bible Belt in Oklahoma, is accused of using donors’ money to buy his wife expensive cars, fund private jet trips for his daughter, remodel his home and maintain a stable of horses for his children.
The wife of Richard Roberts is also accused of sending hundreds of text messages to "underage males" who had been provided with university-issued mobile phones, and spending tens of thousands of dollars on clothes with university funds.
Another allegation, contained in a lawsuit filed by three former professors, is that a long-time maintenance man on campus was dismissed so that an underage male friend of Lindsay Roberts, known as the university’s First Lady, could have his job.
Lindsay Roberts frequently had mobile phone bills of more than $800 a month, with hundreds of text messages sent between 1am and 3am to "underage males . . . provided phones at university expense".
It will be very interesting to see the media spin as this story develops. These kinds of stories usually involve a man (Jimmy Swaggert, Jim Bakker, Ted Haggard) whose libidinous indiscretions land him in hot water. I can't really say I remember such a case in which the wife's conduct was in question.
Most of the coverage I've seen of this story thus far seems to center on Richard Roberts defending his right to fire the three professors who exposed his ballin-out-of-control spending habits. The $800 a month phone bill his freaky-deaky wife rang up while text messaging her underaged boy toys? Not so much.
Surely there are cheaper and more discrete ways of doing this sorta thing, especially when you're a First Lady. Hasn't this woman heard of MySpace? Skype? Vonage? She could have at least saved the University a lil' money in the process, no? On Larry King Live she defended these charges by basically pinning them on her daughter, then they both spun this by stating some mumbo jumbo about how they help disadvantaged kids, blah blah blah. Larry didn't bother pushing the point any further, maybe his diaper was full or something and he was distracted. Whatever.
Basically, it looks like Lindsay Roberts is a pedophile to me. I'm just waiting for the young boys to come out the woodworks any moment now. [||]
Even though the news cycle is desperate for another scandal right about now (thanks Orental), something tells me this story won't exactly take off. Call me sexist (I've been called worse), but a woman allegedly carrying on behind her husband's back just doesn't carry the same cache as a man doing the same, even when you mix in the underage element.
Then again, I've been wrong before, so we'll see.
Scandal hits TV preacher's academy [TimesUK]
