A district judge upheld a ruling that the University of Oklahoma must submit two reports that could contain sensitive information about former OU president David Boren.
The Jones Day law firm, hired by OU, investigated the former OU president in response to sexual and financial misconduct allegations and put together reports in 2018 and 2019. The reports were sent to the Oklahoma Bureau of Investigation, and charges were not filed.
Two years ago, NonDoc — an Oklahoma-based digital news organization — requested to see the findings of the reports, which prompted the suit NonDoc, Savage vs. University of Oklahoma.
William “Tres” Savage, NonDoc editor, asked Judge Michael Tupper to review the two reports in camera, or in chambers out of the public’s view. This would offer the judge enough information to decide whether the reports ought to be litigated.
“In the court’s opinion, I think the two Jones reports are necessary for the court to make its determination,” Tupper said. “I understand the university’s concerns over disclosure. It’s not a finding by the court that these things aren’t confidential ... it will assist the court in making these decisions.”
“I’m going to reaffirm the decision of the court to make an in camera.”
The defense told the judge that it had interviewed 62 people as part of the Jones Day reports, though it did not say whether the interviews pertained to the first report on potential financial misconduct, the second report on potential sexual misconduct, or both.
Tupper told OU’s lawyers that it had 90 days to submit the reports, comprised of 60 days to tell the 62 interviewees that the reports would go on permanent record with the court, and 30 days to determine if it wanted to hire further legal counsel.
Savage told The Transcript that he appreciated Tupper’s ruling, which will open a door for the reports to be released.
“The University of Oklahoma, a public body, has balked at every opportunity to describe what transpired, how they handled this investigation, whether it was even a Title IX investigation, or whether a report exists regarding how they handled this,” Savage said.
The defense, led by Mike Burrage, argued that the reports should not be released because it contains sensitive information that witnesses gave in confidence, which could result in future lawsuits against the university.
“The council did an investigation. They’ve done everything by the book. In doing this investigation, we think the records sufficiently show the privileges that have been established,” Burrage said. “There’s been suggestions of redactions. That won’t work. People will figure it out.”
“It is extremely private information. It is contrary to what they were told.”
Savage said he grew up in Norman and attended OU.
“I never thought I’d be in this position. I grew up near campus. My dad taught there for 35 years. I was the editor of the OU paper (OU Daily). I learned journalism at the University of Oklahoma. Never in my wildest dreams did I think I would be a plaintiff seeking public records from them,” Savage said. “That said, we’re talking about significant financial misconduct and significant alleged sexual misconduct, and the way that the university has handled all this information privately and declined to really say what happened is not the standard that I think we want to have for public institutions.”
Jess Eddy is one of the witnesses interviewed by the Jones Day lawyers. He is the only person to have come out publicly against Boren as an alleged victim of sexual misconduct.
He worked with Boren as a teaching assistant from 2010-2011. Boren, former Governor of Oklahoma, was president at OU for 24 years ending in 2018.
“As the only publicly identified publicly available victim, I’m the one who’s been called a liar and attacked by David Boren and his attorney,” Eddy told The Transcript.
He said he feels vindicated knowing that 62 others were interviewed as part of the report.
“Everybody at OU knew David Boren had inappropriate relationships with students and young men,” Eddy said. “Before I was ever assaulted, there were senior administrators that warned me that it would happen and they gave me advice on how to manage it.”
He said he doesn’t want Boren behind bars. Rather, he wants OU to create a culture of transparency.
“Justice for me has never been about a criminal prosecution. Justice for me is about public transparency and the prevailing of truth,” he said.
He said the Jones Day lawyers interrogated him twice.
“Now they are using protection of victims to justify not being transparent,” Eddy said. “Everyone wants to protect the identity of victims. This isn’t a request to seek the identity of victims. This is a request to see what happened.”
The Transcript reached out to OU for a statement. A spokesperson wrote “It’s not the practice of the university to comment on pending litigation.”
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