Fired Oklahoma Christian Professor Sues University

It’s been almost a year since a tenured professor at Oklahoma Christian University was fired after bringing in an openly gay guest speaker to his classroom. 

The professor, Michael O’Keefe, along with the speaker are now suing the university.  

Their lawyer said not only was this a breach of contract, but Oklahoma Christian made several false claims about his clients.  

On March 1, 2022 O’Keefe invited Scott Hale, an openly gay man and adjunct professor, to talk to his class about branding yourself in a business setting.  

Back in 2022, O’Keefe said he brought in diverse speakers with different perspectives on the topic to speak to his college students.  

“I’m surprised that the university is not willing to acknowledge that they really messed this one up,” Kevin Jacobs, the Attorney representing both former Oklahoma Christian professors, said.  

O’Keefe and Hale are both alumni of the university, Jacobs said they gave them the petition months before officially filing to sue.  

“Michael and Scott felt very strongly based upon their long relationship with the university that the last thing they wanted to do was to try to publicly air their grievances with Oklahoma Christian,” Jacobs said. 

He said both O’Keefe and Hale were “humiliated, harassed” and have been “questioned” by employers about the incident. 

“For a professor who has been there for 41 years, tenured over 20, to be charged with misconduct is an assault to your professional reputation,” Jacobs said.  

The petition stated that the university “unceremoniously” fired O’Keefe on March 7, 2022 without a “thorough investigation.”  

“The process includes giving a notice, giving an opportunity to hear the allegations that are being made, being able to understand who is making these allegations,” the attorney said.  

According to court documents, the university “recklessly portrayed” Hale as a “lewd person with pedophiliac and exhibitionist tendencies.” 

“On Mr. Hale’s part the defamation is even stronger. I mean he was accused of being a sexual predator for crying out loud. To make a statement like that, to twist what he said in that class about going to a slumber party at 10 years old and then claiming that there was some history of him trying to lead others to play a game is crazy. He wasn’t the one initiating the game, and he was the one traumatized by the game at 10 years of age,” Jacobs said.  

The attorney said, “He has the courage to share that now with a class and talk about how that impacted him going forward, and then the university uses that to say he has a history of inciting others to play this game with him…that is appalling.” 

Oklahoma Christian told News 9, "OC looks forward to filing its responsive pleading with the court next week." 

O’Keefe and Hale are also suing the university for portraying them in false lighting and causing emotional distress.