Major trouble at Oral Roberts

[Hammersmith]

the link in the opening post has disbanded. what happened at oru?

Basically, the current leader of the university(Oral Roberts' son, Richard) and his wife are accused of fiscal mismanagement and conduct unbecoming. The mess started when someone in-the-know ordered a examination of the liability of the university for the Roberts' rumored actions. This person compiled a list of the allegations and stored it on their laptop. The laptop was given to a student for repair and the student found the document. The student then gave said document to another faculty member, who shared it with two colleagues. The three faculty brought the document to the attention of the board of trustees and were subsequently fired. They've now filed a lawsuit for inappropriate termination and it's all hitting the fan.

The Roberts' are accused of using university funds to remodel their home 14 times in the past 11 years, sending their daughter and her friends on vacations to the Carib and Europe(?) using the university's plane, buying unnecessary luxury vehicles using university funds, and using those funds for other frivolous and personal gains. The most damning accusations are that Mrs. Roberts has been having inappropriate relations with underage male friends of her daughter. There are dozens or hundreds of calls from her cell phone(payed for by ORU) to these male friends, often at 2am. There are reports that she spent nights with them in the guest house at times when the daughter was not at home.

All of this has been happening while ORU has been sliding into debt($50M+) and draining its endowment.

I'm working from memory, so some of the details might be a bit off, but I'm pretty close. If you need more, just do a Google search, you should find it without much trouble. Don't bother going to the ORU messageboard though, they've forbidden all talk not directly relating to sports.

[extremerouge]

Basically, the current leader of the university(Oral Roberts' son, Richard) and his wife are accused of fiscal mismanagement and conduct unbecoming. The mess started when someone in-the-know ordered a examination of the liability of the university for the Roberts' rumored actions. This person compiled a list of the allegations and stored it on their laptop. The laptop was given to a student for repair and the student found the document. The student then gave said document to another faculty member, who shared it with two colleagues. The three faculty brought the document to the attention of the board of trustees and were subsequently fired. They've now filed a lawsuit for inappropriate termination and it's all hitting the fan.

The Roberts' are accused of using university funds to remodel their home 14 times in the past 11 years, sending their daughter and her friends on vacations to the Carib and Europe(?) using the university's plane, buying unnecessary luxury vehicles using university funds, and using those funds for other frivolous and personal gains. The most damning accusations are that Mrs. Roberts has been having inappropriate relations with underage male friends of her daughter. There are dozens or hundreds of calls from her cell phone(payed for by ORU) to these male friends, often at 2am. There are reports that she spent nights with them in the guest house at times when the daughter was not at home.

All of this has been happening while ORU has been sliding into debt($50M+) and draining its endowment.

I'm working from memory, so some of the details might be a bit off, but I'm pretty close. If you need more, just do a Google search, you should find it without much trouble. Don't bother going to the ORU messageboard though, they've forbidden all talk not directly relating to sports.

whoa thats some aweful stuff! so becuase of this their athletic department will disband?

[Hammersmith]

whoa thats some aweful stuff! so becuase of this their athletic department will disband?

No, no, no. It does throw the future wellbeing of the university into question, but there shouldn't be any immediate fallout. Normally, something like this would cause a university to take a hit, but eventually recover. What makes this case so different is the youth of the university(1963) and the heavy link to its founder and namesake. Oral Roberts is almost 90 and probably won't be around for all too much longer. With his son and heir possibly disgraced, can ORU survive in the long run? Will young, religious students continue to choose to enroll? Will graduates choose to donate to their alma mater? Will churches continue to support the university once there is no more Roberts in Oral Roberts University? I don't think anyone has solid answers to those questions. Again, no immediate change, but possible long-term instability for the entire university.

[met1990]

http://www.cnn.com/2007/US/11/23/rob...ion/index.html

[56BISON73]

Looks like help is on its way.


http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20071128/...biOCfPzlEXIr0F

[JackJD]

Today's news including the announcement by Richard Roberts that God talked to him and told him to resign (so far he was on a temporary leave of absence).

Assuming there is substance to the allegations,...this "I just talked to God" line offends the heck out of me.

Oh well, he'll get his.

The University will survive. The $70 million proposed donation will definitely help.

[56BISON73]

Today's news including the announcement by Richard Roberts that God talked to him and told him to resign (so far he was on a temporary leave of absence).

Assuming there is substance to the allegations,...this "I just talked to God" line offends the heck out of me.

Oh well, he'll get his.

The University will survive. The $70 million proposed donation will definitely help.

Funny God didnt tell him what he was doing was a no no. I guess he only speaks to the supposed chosen ones when they get caught. PL