Part II: University of Oklahoma (David Boren’s Campus) Attempts to Obstruct a Federal Investigation

Michael P. Wright — Norman, Oklahoma, USA — mpwright8@aol.com

[On November 22, 2008, I posted the original report about this event at BellaCiao.]

A peculiar email from Paul Bell, a dean at the University of Oklahoma, was sent on Friday, November 21, 2008. Since that time I have obtained verification of it from the OU Open Records Office. It is
now scanned and online at this public Facebook album:

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?a...

The recipients were department chairmen and directors on the Norman campus. I first learned of Bell’s email when it was leaked to me by a confidential contact on the OU faculty. Another faculty member also confirmed having received it.

In the first paragraph, Bell says that the Provost asked him to remind all faculty of procedures to follow if approached by a federal agent. Employees are forbidden from releasing any information without approval of the OU Legal Counsel. They are also prohibited from releasing documents to federal agents.

Bell contradicts himself near the bottom of the email when he writes that the university "is not instructing you not to talk to the investigator or auditor..."

He adds: "...it is usually not in the employee’s best interest to talk to an investigator or auditor without an attorney present."

Bell concludes by asking recipients to share the email with faculty and staff of their departments.

Bell advises recipients that if contacted by an investigator, they should inform either the Office of Legal Counsel, on the main campus in Norman, or the Compliance Officer at the Health Science Center (HSC).

He adds: "No one is authorized to give University documents to government officials except the Office of Legal Counsel."

Elmer Z. ("EZ") Million is an OU alumnus who was curious about this email from Bell. He called the Compliance Office at the HSC and someone identifying himself only as "Bobby" answered the phone. Million expressed his concern that maybe OU was trying to discourage faculty from cooperating with FBI agents who might be doing a background check on someone being considered for a Presidential appointment.

Bobby was familiar with the email from Bell and said that it was intended for researchers at the HSC who might be undergoing review in relation to the question of compliance with federal research rules. He mentioned the Food and Drug Administration.

COMMENTS

Bobby’s comments appear to be an attempt to deflect suspicion. The email originated from the main OU campus in Norman, which is 20 miles south of the HSC, and was addressed to department heads at that campus. It was signed by Paul Bell, the Dean of the College of Arts and Sciences, on the Norman campus.

Bell’s warning that only the Legal Counsel can release documents to federal investigators is most peculiar. He appears to have forgotten that OU is a PUBLIC university. Legally, ALL of its records are open to the public, except certain aspects of personnel files and student transcripts and other private information about individual students.

Surely, a federal investigator has the same rights to this information as any member of the public.

The fact that Bell contradicts himself in the email is interesting. Does this kind of sloppiness indicate that the email was hastily drafed while he was in a frenzy of fear?

The administrators are acting as though OU itself has interests adverse to the government’s. In fact, OU is a state university and therefore is PART of the government and has no interests adverse to it. I strongly suspect that there are criminals in the OU administration, guilty of corruption, and they as individuals have interests adverse to the government’s.

OU administrators are acting as though OU is legally a person with Miranda rights and other due process rights granted to individuals. They are acting as though all of its employees have interests aligned with theirs and should act accordingly when faced with investigators. OU president David Boren for years has been fond of calling OU "a family," and he obviously thinks of himself as the Grand Patriarch.

See this album for evidence of Boren’s fondness for the idea that OU is a "family." A document scanned for this album actually compares OU to the Corleone family from the crime story in The Godfather ! Click on the 5th image on the top row.

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?a...

Consider this statement in Bell’s email: "it is usually not in an employee’s best interest to talk with an investigator without an attorney present."

This is a veiled threat that any employee who sings to the feds will suffer grave consequences.

SEE THE EARLIER BELLA CIAO POST

For some background information about David Boren, see the earlier Bella Ciao post about this email:

http://bellaciao.org/en/spip.php?ar...

See also the evidence from my independent 9/11 investigation:

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?a...