A Cleveland County judge denied OU’s motion to close the courtroom for a lawsuit requesting the release of witness reports conducted by the Jones Day law firm that contains allegations against former OU President David Boren and former Vice President of University Development Jim "Tripp" Hall.
Cleveland County Judge Michael Tupper wrote in the three-page order, released on Oct. 8, that OU has not overcome the assumption that the press and public should be allowed to attend the summary judgment oral argument of the case.
“The interests and remedy identified by the University do not meet the high bar for overcoming the presumption that the public may attend the summary judgment hearing,” the order reads. “Closing the hearing will not preserve an overriding interest or higher value.”
Tres Savage, editor-in-chief of NonDoc, told OU Daily Tuesday that the hearing on OU’s summary judgment motion has been scheduled for 9 a.m. on Nov. 15.
According to university lawyers, the reports include the details of interviews with 62 people that were made in confidence. The reports supposedly detail witnesses’ statements on allegations of sexual misconduct against Boren and Hall as well as the law firm’s findings of donation data misreporting during Boren’s administration.
The ruling states that, other than Jess Eddy’s statement, neither the identities of the people interviewed by Jones Day nor their statements will be disclosed during the oral argument.
OU’s motion, filed on Sept. 13, argued that an open judgment hearing would harm the university and the public and called for a closed summary judgment instead.
“The University could be subject to civil liability for retaliation under Title IX and the U.S. Constitution if it breaches its prior assurances of confidentiality,” the motion reads. “Holding the summary judgment hearing in open court is one such way in which that information could wrongfully become public.”
The reports were compiled by Jones Day, an international law firm. OU paid the law firm over half a million dollars between 2018 and 2019 to investigate, in part, whether Boren and Hall acted inappropriately toward aides and students. The reports were sent to the Oklahoma State Bureau of Investigation in 2019, but charges were not filed against Boren, Hall or the university.
In 2021, Savage filed a lawsuit against the OU Board of Regents, claiming the university had violated the Oklahoma Open Records Act by not releasing these reports. During the Aug. 28 hearing, Savage and his counsel argued the public has a constitutional right to access the details of the investigation and the documents in question are not confidential.
In August, during the original date for the hearing, Savage said that just because the reports have “confidential” written on them does not make them confidential.
“They want everybody to just assume that they're privileged, to take their word for it. They don't even want to be in open court today and talk about their argument,” Savage told reporters outside the courtroom referring to OU’s stance. “This matter is incredibly important for the entire state of Oklahoma, the taxpayer families, parents who send their students to the university, students who go to the university.”
This story was edited by Ana Barboza and Anusha Fathepure. Andrew Paredes and Avery Avery copy edited this story.
