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Posted On
01/14/2008

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ORU Board of Regents Accepts Mart Green’s Financial Plan

According to The Tulsa World, the Oral Roberts University Board of Regents has accepted the financial offer from Oklahoma City businessman Mart Green. In addition, Board Chairman George Pearsons has stepped down, and Mart Green has assumed his role. A Green family spokesman said ORU’s entire board of regents will be replaced by a board of trustees, composed of some former regents and some new members. The Greens’ offer followed the late November resignation of ORU President Richard Roberts. At the time, the family gave $8 million and pledged to give the remaining $62 million contingent on the school’s acceptance of shared governance and other actions. Richard Roberts said the proposal has his family’s blessing and that he was “pleased (that) God has blessed ORU with this gift.” Richard Roberts said he and his father, university founder Oral Roberts, attended the regents meeting today. Four ORU regents, all televangelists, have quit since Richard Roberts resigned.  The proposal from the Green family to the Board of Regents is attached.

This entry was posted on Monday, January 14th, 2008 at 7:49 pm and is filed under General. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

  • Bart Breen

    Praise God!

    I'm glad that Oral was present as well and that Richard made a public statement endorsing the plan.

    What a rare opporunity ORU has now to survive the mistakes of the past and raise up renewed into the next generation of leadership.

    How wonderful as well that the staff and faculty will have input into the academic operations of the University.

    It will interesting to see how quickly the remaining law suits settle now that the old board is gone.

    This is a very significant development in my opinion, with ramifications well beyond the immediate situation at ORU.  Televangelists take note.

  • http://www.chrisbusch.com Chris Busch

    This is very good news for all the stakeholders in ORU. And it's not only wonderful news, it's a remarkable story of hope emerging suddenly from what appeared to be a rather gloomy chapter in the history of the university. I don't use the word "miracle" lightly, but right now I'm giving it consideration.

  • george watts

    “FOR FORTY FIVE YEARS ORAL AND RICHARD ROBERTS FOOLED EVERYBODY THAT THEY WERE MEN OF GOD AND NOW WE ALL KNOW IT'S NOT TRUE AND ALL ALONG THEY HAD NO INTEGRITY AND NEITHER DO THEIR BOARD OF REGENTS INCLUDING Creflo Dollar, Kenneth Copeland and Benny Hinn WHOSE PRIMARY INTEREST IS THEIR OWN WEALTH THAN THE GOOD OF OTHERS ”

     

    Posted at http://cnt10b.tripod.com/ecfa.htm

    also check out http://cnt10b.tripod.com/or.htm

     

     

  • Bart Breen

    For the record, while there's a lot of good factual content on your links and reason for concern and scrutiny, I don't agree with some of the conclusions drawn or the force of some of the statements made.

    I've never questioned Oral Robert's sincerity in terms of the mission he's pursued or the calling he believes God has placed on Him.  I certainly do question the judgement he's exercised in some areas and the fiscal management of the university and the whole City of Faith episode that I was present for and observed to a large extent.  I'm glad as subsequent leadership arises that some of these elements are being addressed.

  • http://www.crossroads-creative.com Richard Gaspard

    Hey Phil, you need to watch our for this "Bart Breen" guy.  His name sounds conspicuously like "Mart Green." He may show up with some cash one day, then want to take charge of all the postings!

    All joking aside, this is great news for ORU.  My wife is an alumnus, and I worked in TV and the Music Dept. for five years, and I'm thrilled to see the changes that are taking place.

    Hey "Bart," I could use some extra money (and free gift cards to Hobby Lobby!). 

  • Bart Breen

    You find a way to get me on the balance Sheet for the Green family and I'll guarantee you a gift card you'll never forget!  ;)

  • Cory Kent

    Too funny, Richard. Thanks for that.

  • Elizabeth Conley

    This is very encouraging news.  There have been many positive developments at ORU since Mr. Green's offer.  It's wonderful to know the Board has accepted his terms.  I was afraid they would not.

    I hope the remaining lawsuits are settled quickly and equitably.  It was wonderful to see Dr. Swails return to ORU.  Hopefully the other outcomes will be equally positive.

  • http://www.duststormproductions.com dusty

    I hope that is great news for those at ORU..

  • Bart Breen

    Many may not have noticed the attached file on this thread.

    It is the proposal submitted to ORU which was accepted.

    It's worth a read.  I'm impressed with the brevity of it, the direct and to the point assessment of the situation as well as the clarity of what needs to happen.

    Most important, at least to me in the context of the fiscal mess that the former leaders and structure created is a statement of commitment to full membership within the ECFA.

    Big changes are in store for ORU.

  • Bart Breen

    Another update on this situation in the Tulsa World.

    Richard Roberts and his family will be leaving the home on campus provided for them as a part of the role as President of the University.

    Oral Roberts Ministries will be relocating off campus.  The seperation of entities will be made formal in this regard.

  • Elizabeth Conley

    Thanks.

    I've been paying attention too.  I want to see how things play out at ORU over the next decade.

    I noticed an editorial in Tulsa World yesterday attacking the motives of the the Brookers, who are under a gag order not to discuss their case.  I thought publishing the editorial  was a remarkably sleazy act.  It was pretty much anonymous too, since the author was listed as "World Editorial Writers".   I was shocked.

    Tulsa World had done a pretty good job reporting the facts before yesterday.  I hope that cheesy editorial wasn't a sign of things to come.

  • Bart Breen

    The Tulsa World has never been afraid to criticize ORU or Oral Roberts ministries.

    When I was a student ther back in the early 80's they were especially critical of the City of Faith project.  Originally, the CofF was denied a certificate of need because the city determined there was not a need for a medical facility of that size in the area.

    Oral Roberts argued it would be a facility like the Mayo Clinic where people would come from around the world to participate in his unique mix of medicine and prayer.  As I recall, the issue went to the Oklahoma Supreme Court and involved the Governor to get it cleared.

    When it was all said and done, the city was right, the facility failed because there wasn't enough local need to support it and over $120 million was raised and spent on a project that in the end resulted in a huge building that is now rented out for office space.

    The city of Tulsa has understandibly at times, had an us/them type relationship with ORU because of these types of issues and ORU and ORM being perceived as an organization demanding special treatment and not working within the community.

    That's a bit one sided of course and there are exceptions to that. 

    The Tulsa World is like any other publication in that controversy sells newspapers.  It's not fair however to just write them off.  They've been right on many things in the past and ORU and ORM have been wrong on some and they were huge issues and had great impact on the Tulsa community.


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