The Oxford Round Table brings together scholars and others from a variety of backgrounds (new professors and PhD students, college presidents and deans, school administrators, religious leaders) to discuss research on specific topics usually related to public policy.
"[9] For most of its history the Oxford Round Table has been an American organisation run by members of the Alexander family and variously headquartered in Kentucky, Illinois, Florida, and California.
Kern Alexander, Professor of Excellence at the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign, founded the Oxford International Round Table on Education Policy in 1989.
[16] In December 2001, the non-profit Oxford Round Table of Godstow Hall, Inc., was incorporated in Kentucky by several members of the Alexander family.
In the 2007 annual report of the Kentucky for-profit Oxford Round Table, Inc., Kern Alexander was listed as company president.
One professor expressed "surprise" when she learned that the ORT was not affiliated with Oxford University and concluded that "my conference funds would be best targeted towards a more appropriate venue.
The company defended its selection criteria, and reported that its disclaimer, which is on its website, uses "the exact wording that was provided to us by the legal office of the University of Oxford several years ago."
The ORT sued Sloan Mahone, a lecturer in the history of medicine at Oxford, after she emailed invitees and posted on the Chronicle of Higher Education website.
[3][2][23] An attempt by the Oxford Round Table, Inc., to sue Mahone for libel in the Kentucky courts failed on jurisdiction grounds,[24] and the company threatened to take legal action in the UK.