[1] While serving in the House, Boren was a member of the committee that investigated the University of Oklahoma after the school allowed black militant Paul Boutelle, a socialist and anti-Vietnam War activist, to give a speech there.

[1][10] Boren and Congressman Clem McSpadden defeated incumbent David Hall in the primary election and moved into a runoff for the Democratic nomination.

[11] Boren beat McSpadden in the runoff and subsequently defeated Republican Jim Inhofe in the general election.

Boren attracted national attention during the Energy Crisis when he advocated nationwide deregulation of natural gas prices.

[14] Boren then defeated Edmondson in the runoff, and Republican Robert Kamm, former President of Oklahoma State University, in the general election.

"[18] Anthony Points, who ran under an assumed name and faced charges for passing bogus checks, accused Boren of being gay.

"[18] Despite the personal attacks which made The Washington Post describe the race as a "Gutter Shootout" Boren prevailed by wide margins in the primary, runoff and general election balloting.

[23] Boren's chief of staff was a respected Capitol Hill insider, Charles Ward, a former longtime administrative assistant to Speaker Albert.

[27] In a controversial public mea culpa in a New York Times Op/Ed piece, Boren expressed regret over his vote to confirm Supreme Court Associate Justice Clarence Thomas.

Partly as a result of that statement, The Daily Oklahoman, the largest newspaper in Oklahoma, which had encouraged and endorsed Boren's entire career, began intensely criticizing him.

[28] His opposition in 1993 was essential for the failure of a heat content based (for example British thermal unit or joule) energy tax proposed by the Clinton Administration as means to curb the deficit and reduce pollution.

[29] As chairman of the U.S. Senate Select Committee on Intelligence, Boren was instrumental in building consensus and bipartisan support for the U.S. State Department initiatives to promote democracy abroad which helped lead to the release of Nelson Mandela.

[30][31][32] Boren served as president of the University of Oklahoma from 1994 until June 30, 2018, and was succeeded by business executive Jim Gallogly.

[44] Only a portion of the Title IX report has been released publicly to accuser and former OU student Jess Eddy, whose allegations were deemed "generally credible" by the law firm though Eddy admitted to "calling Boren personally and asking for financial compensation after The Oklahoman first reported Boren was being investigated.

[49][50] The investigation purportedly sought to determine whether Boren sexually harassed staff or students during his tenure as president.

The allegations arose from a Fall 2010 Boren fundraising trip to Houston in a private jet and hotel events afterward.

[55][56] The University of Oklahoma regents received the results of the investigation in April 2019, and although they did not release any of the findings, the chairwoman described the probe as "fair, non-biased, thorough and objective.

[58] In October 2020, Acting Attorney General Patrick Henry announced that his office would not seek a Grand Jury criminal indictment against Boren or other parties involved.

[59] In 1996, Reform Party presidential candidate Ross Perot unsuccessfully sought Boren to be his vice-presidential running mate.

[60] In 2001, Boren, along with fellow Democrat former governor George Nigh was listed as being in support of the Right-to-work law in Oklahoma.

[63] In June 2007, conservative political columnist Robert Novak claimed that Boren had met with New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg to discuss a possible third-party presidential campaign.

Bloomberg had recently left the Republican Party, and speculation arose that he discussed the possibility of Boren joining him as a running mate.

[65] Boren and former U.S. senator Chuck Hagel served as co-chairmen of the nonpartisan U.S. President's Intelligence Advisory Board under Barack Obama.