THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Thursday, June 1, 1995 TAG: 9506010400
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B5 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY MARC DAVIS, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: VIRGINIA BEACH LENGTH: Medium: 70 lines
Pat Robertson will get some unwanted national TV exposure in the next two weeks, courtesy of Court TV, the national cable television network.
Five current and former professors at Robertson's Regent University are suing the school over tenure, and two of the professors, fired in 1994, are suing to get their jobs back.
Their trial begins today in Circuit Court, with live coverage on Court TV, interspersed with live coverage of the O.J. Simpson slaying trial in California.
Robertson has been subpoenaed to testify, but he may not be called to the witness stand. A long list of Regent professors and administrators also have been subpoenaed.
Court TV asked a judge last week for permission to televise the trial. In Virginia, judges have discretion over whether to allow cameras in courtrooms.
Lawyers for Regent objected to Court TV's request, saying cameras in the courtroom would distract participants from a complex case that will last two or three weeks.
Judge Edward W. Hanson Jr. overruled Regent's objection and will let Court TV into his courtroom.
This is the first trial in Hampton Roads to be covered by Court TV. A spokeswoman said the network is interested in the case as a counterpoint to its usual criminal-court coverage.
``We thought it was a very interesting trial,'' spokeswoman Lynn Rosenstrach said. ``We're always looking for civil trials to do. The breach-of-contact issue, especially involving Pat Robertson, made it interesting.''
It is not known if the trial will touch on Regent's internal politics or dwell on breach-of-contract law. The two law professors who were fired were active in faculty protests against Robertson. The school has said they were fired because of a lack of scholarship and bad attitudes.
Court TV - Channel 37 in Virginia Beach and Norfolk - will cover the trial live every morning, then switch to Simpson coverage at 11:30 a.m. Regent coverage will continue during breaks in the Simpson trial about 3 p.m. Highlights will be shown every night from 8 to 10 p.m. on the network's ``Prime Time Justice'' show.
Three current Regent professors, Jeffrey C. Tuomala, Clifford W. Kelly and Elaine Shouse Waller, and two fired professors, Paul J. Morken and Roger C. Bern, sued the school in May and June last year to overturn Regent's new tenure policy.
They say the school's old tenure contracts, signed in 1993, offered more job security. They say the new contracts, written in 1994, allow the university to fire professors at will. They want a judge to order their re-employment under the old contracts.
Three of the professors, Bern, Morken and Tuomala, also sued the university and Robertson personally in October for libel and slander. Those lawsuits are pending and will not be heard this week. Each seeks $10 million in damages.
Another lawsuit against Regent and Robertson is pending. That suit was filed by former law dean Herbert W. Titus, who was fired in 1993. He seeks $10 million in damages. It, too, will not be heard with the tenure case.
The tenure issue is crucial to Regent's long-term survival. In February, the American Bar Association gave Regent's law school another year to prove it deserves full accreditation, citing concerns about tenure, minority recruitment and academic freedom.
Regent, formerly CBN University, was founded in 1978. The law school was founded in 1986.
KEYWORDS: COURT TELEVISION REGENT UNIVERSITY TRIAL by CNB