ORU President Takes Leave Until Charges Are Resolved

Oral Roberts University President Richard Roberts has asked the University's Board of Regents for a temporary leave of absence while charges in a civil law suit by three former ORU faculty are resolved. The suit alleges that Roberts and his wife misused University funds and that his wife spent time at night with an underage male in the University's guest house. CNN yesterday quoted Roberts who said: "I have prayed about it, and feel that it is in the best interest of my family and the university." Roberts, in the same written statement, said he would continue as head of Oral Roberts Ministries and would continue his television show. The ORU Board of Regents in a written statement said it had granted the leave request, and had appointed Billy Joe Daugherty, Senior Pastor of Victory Christian Center in Tulsa, as acting president, along with University founder Oral Roberts.