Oral Roberts University

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Coordinates: 36°03′02″N 95°57′09″W / 36.05056, -95.95245

Oral Roberts University
Motto: Educating the whole person
Established: 1963
Type: Private
Endowment: $33 million[4]
Chancellor: Oral Roberts
President: Dr. Ralph Fagin (acting)
Undergraduates: 3200[5]
Postgraduates: 590[6]
Location: Tulsa, Oklahoma, USA
Campus: Suburban
Nickname: Golden Eagles
Website: www.oru.edu

Oral Roberts University or ORU, based in Tulsa, Oklahoma, is a charismatic Christian liberal arts university with an enrollment of about 3,790 students from most US states along with a number of international students.[1] The university is named for its founder, evangelist Oral Roberts.

Contents

[edit] Education

A core value of ORU is a holistic education as articulated by the University's slogan, "educating the whole person." According to the university, this means educating the mind, body and spirit. For example, all students are required to attend a physical education course every semester and are expected to maintain personal physical fitness. Students also must attend chapel services twice a week and there are student chaplains for each wing or floor of on-campus housing.

ORU offers undergraduate programs in theology, business, music, communication arts, modern languages, behavioral sciences, graphics, education, chemistry, computer science, mathematical science, engineering, physics, English, history, humanities, government and nursing. The university also has a seminary and a limited graduate education program including a business school.

[edit] Student codes

All students are required to sign a pledge stating they will live according to the university's honor code. Prohibited activities include lying, cursing, smoking, drinking, gambling and a range of sexual acts including homosexual behavior. In early 2004 the student dress code was relaxed for the first time in forty years and described as business casual. For most of the school's history men were required to wear button-down shirts and ties while women were required to wear skirts (an exception for winter months was added in 2000). In 2006 campus-wide dress code rules were eased even further, allowing students to wear jeans to class and dress even more casually in non-academic settings. Restrictions on men concerning hair length, facial hair and earrings remain.[2]

[edit] Futuristic architecture

Main campus building, the Learning Resource and Graduate centers

The campus was built beginning in 1963 with a noted futuristic look and architecture. Architects Stanfield, Imel & Walton of Tulsa designed the 1963 master plan but most of the buildings were designed by Tulsa architect Frank Wallace.[3] Many of the buildings may have been inspired by Tulsa's art deco architectural heritage[4][5] along with Bruce Goff's individualistic style and creative use of new materials.[6] By 2007 its appearance was described as "a perfect representation of the popular modernistic architecture of the time... the set of the Jetsons" but also "shabby" and "dated, like Disney's Tomorrowland."[7][8][9] Maintenance of the many unique but aging buildings, structures and architectural details on campus has been cited as a growing problem for the university.[10]

The main entrance onto campus is a divided, landscaped roadway called The Avenue of Flags, lined with lighted flags representing the more than 60 nations from which ORU students have been drawn. The main academic building on campus is the John D. Messick Learning Resource Center / Marajen Chinigo Graduate Center, an immense 900,000 square foot (80,000 m²) facility with many pylon-like columns, gold-coloured windows and a lozenge shaped footprint which university publicity says was styled after King Solomon's Temple. The Howard Auditorium is a gold, Buckminster Fuller style geodesic dome which is used for movies, theatre productions, classes and seminars. Bi-weekly university chapel services are held in Christ's Chapel, a 3,500 seat building constructed in drape-like fashion as an echo of Oral Roberts' early tent revivals. The Googie style Prayer Tower at the center of campus was intended to resemble "an abstract cross and Crown of Thorns" and also houses a visitor center. The Mabee Center is an 11,000 seat arena on the southwestern edge of campus and is used for basketball games, concerts, church services and satellite television productions. In 1981 the City of Faith Medical and Research Center opened adjacent to the south side of campus with a 60 story hospital but closed in 1989 because of financial problems. In 2007 some floors remained uncompleted since construction 26 years earlier. The facility is now mostly leased out as commercial office space under the name CityPlex. A 60 ft (18.2 m), 30 ton sculpture called Praying Hands cast in Ciudad Juárez, Mexico in 1980 which had originally stood in front of the complex (and was reportedly the largest bronze structure in the United States) was moved to the nearby campus entrance in 1992.[11]

[edit] History

Main entrance to campus and The Avenue of Flags

Oral Roberts' Oral Roberts Evangelistic Association founded the institution in 1963, claiming God had told him, "Build Me a University. Build it on My Authority, and on the Holy Spirit," and "Raise up your students to hear my voice, to go where my light is dim, where my voice is heard small, and my healing power is not known, even to the uttermost bounds of the earth. Their work will exceed yours, and in this I am well pleased." The first students enrolled in 1965.

The school was accredited in 1971 by the Higher Learning Commission of the North Central Association of Colleges and Schools.[12] It is also accredited by the Association of Theological Schools in the United States and Canada.[13] Oral Roberts' son Richard Roberts was named president in 1993. In October 2007 Roberts took a leave of absence, citing a lawsuit filed by former ORU professors. Tulsa evangelist Billy Joe Daugherty and Oral Roberts were named executive regent and interim president of the university amid a widely publicized scandal and Richard Roberts resigned the following month.

In October 2007 the school was reportedly "struggling financially" with over $50 million in debt.[14] ORU's operating budget for 2007-2008 was more than $82 million.

[edit] Medical and law schools closed

Along with its development of the City of Faith Medical and Research Center the university started the Oral Roberts University School of Medicine in 1981 but severe financial difficulties with both of these institutions led to the medical school's closure in 1989. In 1986 the university "shut down its ailing law school and sent its library to Pat Robertson's Bible-based college in Virginia" which subsequently founded the Regent University School of law.[15]

[edit] Doctrine

ORU has been criticized for endorsing unorthodox doctrines of faith. Critics cite Oral Roberts' connection with Word of Faith doctrine and how this has been used for self promotion and justification of economic materialism. Oral Roberts helped pioneer the concept of "Seed Faith," which associated acts of God with the results of an individual's previous investment into God's will, like a plant growing from the investment of a seed. Critics claim this is equivalent to believing miracles can be bought and makes God into a manipulable party.

Some of the earliest criticisms of the Word of Faith movement came from ORU faculty members including Professor Charles Farah and one of his students, Daniel Ray McConnell. McConnell submitted a PhD thesis to the university detailing his assertion that the teachings of the movement are heretical. This was later published as A Different Gospel in 1988.[16]

[edit] 2007 lawsuit

In October 2007 a lawsuit was filed in Tulsa County by three former professors who claimed to have been wrongfully terminated. They also alleged university president Richard Roberts misused university assets and illegally ordered the university to participate in Republican candidate Randi Miller's political campaign for Tulsa mayor. This occurred while the tax-exempt university was working lawfully with the Republican National Committee on out-of-state projects as part of a long-standing, pre-approved curriculum which had been in place for several years.[17][18] Other allegations against Roberts include claims he used university funds to pay for his daughter's trip to the Bahamas by providing the university jet and billing other costs to the school, maintains a stable of horses on campus and at university expense for the exclusive use of his children, regularly summons university and ministry staff to the Roberts house to do his daughters’ homework, has remodeled his house at university expense 11 times in the past 14 years, allowed the university to be billed both for damage done by his daughters to university-owned golf carts and for video-taped vandalism caused by one of his minor daughters, later alleged to be Chloe Roberts (along with benefiting from school property she allegedly stole during the same incident, even after he was informed) and acquired a red Mercedes convertible and a white Lexus SUV for his wife Lindsay through ministry donors.[19] [8]

Wikisource has original text related to this article:

Lindsay Roberts, who is referred to in ORU publicity as the university's "first lady," is accused of spending tens of thousands of dollars of university funds on clothes, awarding nonacademic scholarships to the children of family friends and sending text messages, mostly sent between 1 a.m. and 3 a.m., on university-issued cell phones to people described in the lawsuit as "underage males."[19] The lawsuit also alleges a longtime maintenance employee was fired for the purpose of giving the job to an underage male friend of Lindsay Roberts.[20]

Richard Roberts told students during his weekly chapel, "This lawsuit ...is about intimidation, blackmail and extortion." Former ORU professor and lawsuit plaintiff Tim Brooker commented, "All over that campus there are signs up that say, 'And God said, build me a university, build it on my authority, and build it on the Holy Spirit.' Unfortunately, ownership has shifted."[21]

United Church of Christ Bishop Carlton Pearson, a former protege of Oral Roberts, said Richard Roberts was "born into privilege... What others may call extravagance he may not see it as extravagant." According to CNN, Pearson said he was disappointed but not surprised by the allegations, explaining, "These kinds of things are common among family-owned and operated businesses and ministries. They don't cross every T and dot every I."[22]

On 12 October the plaintiffs filed an amended lawsuit adding the university's Board of Regents (George Pearsons, Kenneth Copeland, Creflo Dollar, Michael A. Hammer, John Hagee, Marilyn Hickey, Oral Roberts, Richard L. Roberts, Jerry Savelle and Charles Watson) to the suit and alleging three days after the original lawsuit was filed, Roberts fired the university's financial comptroller (who had been employed by ORU for 26 years) and "witnesses have reported voluminous materials and documents were shredded and destroyed, constituting spoilation of evidence." The filing also alleged Lindsay Roberts had spent at least nine nights in the ORU guest house with an underage 16 year old male who also was allowed to live in the Roberts family residence on campus, a situation which made their oldest daughter so uncomfortable, she insisted deadbolt locks be installed on all bedroom doors in the house.[23]

In a written response to the later allegations Lindsay Roberts said, "I live my life in a morally upright manner and throughout my marriage have never, ever engaged in any sexual behavior with any man outside of my marriage as the accusations imply. Allegations against me in a lawsuit yesterday are not true. They sicken me to my soul." In a separate written statement the university denied "purposely or improperly" destroying documents.[24]

[edit] Resignation of Richard Roberts

On 17 October Richard Roberts announced a "temporary leave of absence" as president of the university, citing the "toll" the lawsuit and attendant allegations have taken on him and his family. Billy Joe Daugherty of Victory Christian Center became Executive Regent of the Board of Regents and Interim President. Chairman of the Board George Pearsons noted the temporary resignation was not an admission of guilt.[25]

In November 2007 former board of regents member Harry McNevin claimed that during the 1980s the ORU Board of Regents "rubber-stamped" the "use of millions in endowment money to buy a Beverly Hills property so Oral Roberts could have a West Coast office and house."[9] McNevin also said a country club membership was purchased for Oral Roberts' home. "His idea was if he could get on the golf course with these people, he could get donations for the university," said McNevin. These lavish expenses led McNevin to resign from the board in 1987.

In a wrongful termination lawsuit filed against the university on 21 November former ORU senior accountant Trent Huddleston claimed he had been ordered to help Roberts and his wife "cook the books" by misclassifying nearly $123,000 in funds allegedly spent by the university on remodeling the Roberts home.[26]

On 13 November the tenured faculty of Oral Roberts University "nearly unanimously" approved a nonbinding vote of no confidence in Richard Roberts.[27]

Roberts tendered his letter of resignation to the university's board of regents on 23 November, effective immediately. In a prepared email statement released by the university he said, "I love ORU with all my heart. I love the students, faculty, staff and administration and I want to see God's best for all of them." The regents said they would meet the following week to discuss the search for a new president. Executive regent Billy Joe Daugherty continued as interim president (working with chancellor Oral Roberts). [28]

"You can't take the sacrifices of God's people and use them any old way," McNevin commented after Roberts' resignation. "It's been 20 years that they've been doing the same things that I became aware of." Cornell Cross II, an ORU senior majoring in government said, "This is not over, there a lot of things that need to continue. The culture of fear that has been allowed to fester at ORU has to be looked into."[29]

[edit] Aftermath

On 27 November Pearsons said the university planned to separate its finances and leadership from the Oral Roberts Evangelistic Association, to the apparent approval of many students and faculty members.[30] On 10 January 2008 ORU settled with lawsuit plaintiff John Swails who was reinstated to his previous teaching position.[31][32] The school also announced a formal search committee for a new president, to be headed by board of regents member and Tulsa resident Glenda Payas.[33]

[edit] Green Family contribution

On 14 January 2008 Oral Roberts University’s board of regents voted unanimously to accept $62 million from the Mart Green family, founders of Hobby Lobby and Mardel educational and Christian supply stores. In late October an ORU spokesman had said ORU was $52.5 million in debt and the school accepted an unconditional $8 million from the Greens in late November. ORU’s board of regents will be replaced with a 13 member board of trustees all initially named by the Greens, with Mart Green as chairman. Although Green said in November two family members would sit on the board, he will reportedly be the only one. Green said he wanted to be involved in ORU because his family “felt like financial stewardship needed to be shored up.” [34]

[edit] Athletics

Main article: Oral Roberts Golden Eagles

Oral Roberts University is a member of The Summit League. Its athletic programs include basketball, cross country, golf, soccer and tennis along with track and field for men and women. There is also a baseball program for men and volleyball for women.

ORU's early sports team nicknames were the Titans for men and the Lady Titans for women, adopted in 1965 by a vote of the student body. On April 30, 1993 all teams for both men and women became known as the Golden Eagles. ORU's current mascot is "Eli" the Golden Eagle, who hatched out of his papier-mache egg on November 17, 1993 before the start of an exhibition basketball game as the official symbol of a new era in ORU athletics. The mascot's name is an acronym for education, lifeskills and integrity.

The men's basketball team coached by Scott Sutton has gone to several NCAA tournaments. ORU's women's basketball team has appeared in four NCAA Tournaments in the past eight seasons.

The baseball team made it to the 1978 College World Series and has recently won 10 straight conference championships while advancing to 10 NCAA Tournaments. The baseball team has now and then been ranked in the national top 25.[citation needed]

[edit] References in popular culture

  • The Simpsons character Ned Flanders is a graduate of Oral Roberts University.[35] In one episode, Ned mentions his membership in a fraternity, although Oral Roberts University does not have formal fraternities.
  • Stephen Colbert picked ORU to win the 2004 NCAA Tournament because they have a 900-foot (270 m) Jesus on their team.[36]
  • The Broadway musical Dirty Rotten Scoundrels references Oral Roberts University in the song "Oklahoma?"
  • The film Club Dread features a gymnast from Oral Roberts University.

[edit] Notable alumni

Name Known for Relationship to Oral Roberts University
Michele Bachmann Minnesota U.S. Congresswoman (from 2007 - current) J.D., 1986 from ORU affiliate Coburn School of Law.[37]
Scott Thompson Baker Role as Colton Shore on General Hospital (ABC TV).[38]
David Barton Author and commentator.[39][40]
Doug Bernier Major League Baseball second baseman.[41]
Steve Holm Major League Baseball catcher.[42]
Todd Burns Former Major League Baseball player.[43]
Don Colbert Physician, public speaker, and author on nutritional therapy and preventative medicine B.S., Biology, M.D. 1984.[44][45]
Kenneth Copeland Minister[7]
Kathie Lee Gifford American singer, songwriter, and actress.[46]
Brian Graden Television executive B.A., Business 1985 [47]
Michael Graham Conservative talk radio host and author
Ted Haggard Former Minister[46] Graduate of 1978[48]
Keith Lockhart Former Major League Baseball player.[43]
Ron Luce Founder / President, Teen Mania Ministries B.A., Theology, 1983 [49]
Keith Miller Former Major League Baseball player.[43]
Don Moen Christian musician composer
Mike Moore Former Major League Baseball player.[43]
Richard Roberts Evangelist and former Oral Roberts University president, son of founder Oral Roberts B.A., M.Th., D.Min.[8]
Clifton Taulbert Author B.A.
Ryan Tedder Singer One Republic, Songwriter, Producer
Haywoode Workman Former National Basketball Association player.[46]
Bob Zupcic Former Major League Baseball player.[43]
Jonah Sorrentino Christian rapper/artist also known as KJ-52.
Nedward Flanders Fictional character off the Simpsons Post-Graduate study[9]

[edit] References

  1. ^ Higher Learning Commission
  2. ^ "Ties and Skirts: Addressing the Issue" (HTML). ORU:Alumni Foundation. Retrieved on 2006-06-29.
  3. ^ Tulsa Historical Society Art Deco Tours 2001
  4. ^ For more detail regarding Tulsa's art deco heritage, see List of Art Deco buildings in Tulsa, Oklahoma
  5. ^ Modern Tulsa blog archive for ORU (comments by Rex Ball, FAIA, AICP)
  6. ^ "A Century of Structures," from Oklahoma Magazine (retrieved 18 July 2008).
  7. ^ Carlisle's Case Studies, Oral Roberts University Fights Back with Help from Carlisle SynTec 19 March 2007, retrieved 07 October 2007
  8. ^ a b Justin Juozapavicius, Associated Press, Scandal Brewing at Oral Roberts U., 5 October 2007 retrieved 7 October 2007.
  9. ^ a b "Oral Roberts' Son Accused of Misspending", Associated Press (November 8, 2007). Retrieved on 2007-12-05. 
  10. ^ Lost Tulsa, Oral Roberts University in Decay', 10 February 2006, retrieved 07 October 2007
  11. ^ RoadsideAmerica World's Largest Praying Hands retrieved 08 October 2007
  12. ^ http://admissions.oru.edu/accreditationfacts.html
  13. ^ Member Schools
  14. ^ "Chairman Says ORU Over $50M in Debt", Washington Post (October 24, 2007). Retrieved on 2007-11-08. 
  15. ^ Savage, Charlie (April 8, 2007). "Scandal puts spotlight on Christian law school", Boston Globe. Retrieved on 2007-04-08. 
  16. ^ D.R. McConnell, A Different Gospel, updated edition, (Hendrickson, 1995).
  17. ^ "3 Former Professors Sue Oral Roberts U.," (October 4, 2007). Retrieved on 2007-09-24.
  18. ^ Tulsa World (October 2007). "Swails, Brooker, Brooker v. Oral Roberts University, et al" (PDF). Retrieved on 2007-09-24.
  19. ^ a b "Oral Roberts president faces corruption lawsuit" (October 5, 2007). Retrieved on 2007-09-24.
  20. ^ Tulsa World (October 2007). "Swails, Brooker, Brooker v. Oral Roberts University, et al" (PDF). Retrieved on 2007-09-24.
  21. ^ Associated Press, Scandal Brewing at Oral Roberts, 6 October 2007, retrieved 8 February 2008
  22. ^ CNN, Oral Roberts' son denies he misspent school funds, 10 October 2007, retrieved 10 October 2007
  23. ^ Online copy of revised Swails lawsuit against ORU, October 12th, 2007
  24. ^ Tulsa World, Lindsay Roberts, ORU deny latest claims, 13 October 2007, retrieved 14 October 2007
  25. ^ Tulsa World, [1], 17 October 2007, retrieved 18 October 2007
  26. ^ Justin Juozapavicius, Nov. 21, 2007, "Oral Roberts Accountant Sues Over Firing," Associated Press, at [2].
  27. ^ AP, Faculty Opposes Oral Roberts President 13 November 2007, retrieved 15 November 2007
  28. ^ Roberts resigns
  29. ^ Embattled Oral Roberts President Resigns
  30. ^ AP, Justin Juozapavicius, Roberts Says God Forced His Resignation, 29 Nov 2007, retrieved 29 Nov 2007
  31. ^ Marciszewski, April, ORU reinstates one professor, tulsworld.com, 11 January 2008, retrieved 13 January 2008
  32. ^ http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080502/ap_on_re_us/oral_roberts_scandal
  33. ^ Marciszewski, April, ORU regent to lead committee structuring presidential search, tulsworld.com, 10 January 2008, retrieved 13 January 2008
  34. ^ Marciszewski, April, $62 million for ORU, tulsaworld.com, 15 January 2008, retrieved 16 January 2008
  35. ^ "Saint Flanders. (excerpt from The Gospel According to the Simpsons: The Spiritual Life of America's Most Animated Family)", Christianity Today, February 5, 2001, p28. "Like many of the series' characters, Flanders is the frequent object of satire. An Oral Roberts University graduate who is never without a Bible and a large piece of the True Cross (which saved his life in one episode when he was shot), Ned believes that an essential element of a good life is 'a daily dose of vitamin church.'"
  36. ^ Common Sense —
  37. ^ Congressional biography of Michelle Bachmann, accessed April 7, 2007
  38. ^ http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0048913/bio
  39. ^ Barton: new face of the religious right?, The Dallas Morning News, November 28, 2006. " The former math teacher and Oral Roberts University grad also consults with state education boards about what gets taught in history and government classes."
  40. ^ David Barton Biography, accessed March 7, 2008
  41. ^ Bernier called to big club, Colorado Rockies, June 17, 2008, accessed June 17, 2008
  42. ^ [3], San Francisco Giants, September 15, 2008, accessed September 15, 2008
  43. ^ a b c d e Oral Roberts University Baseball Players Who Made it to the Major Leagues, Baseball Almanac, accessed April 7, 2007
  44. ^ Dr. Colbert Biography, accessed March 7, 2008
  45. ^ Don Colbert, M.D., What You Don't Know May Be Killing You, (Siloam, 2004).
  46. ^ a b c Oral Roberts profile, The Spokesman-Review, March 12, 2007
  47. ^ USATODAY.com - TV network for gays, lesbians to debut
  48. ^ "Two ORU Alumni Recognized in Time Piece". ORU Excellence Magazine. ORU Alumni Foundation (Spring 2005). Retrieved on 2008-08-19.
  49. ^ "Alumni Feature: The Front Lines of Evangelism". ORU Excellence. Oral Roberts University (Fall 1990). Retrieved on 2008-08-19.

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