Oral Roberts University
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| File:ORU Logo.gif | |
| Motto | Educating the whole person |
|---|---|
| Type | Private |
| Established | 1963 |
| President | Richard Roberts |
| Undergraduates | 3200[1] |
| Postgraduates | 590[2] |
| Location | , , |
| Campus | Suburban |
| Nickname | Golden Eagles File:OralRobertsGoldenEagles.png |
| Website | www.oru.edu |
Oral Roberts University or ORU, based in Tulsa, Oklahoma, is the largest charismatic Christian university in the world. The school has an enrollment of about 4,000 students from most US states along with a number of international students.[1] The university is named for its founder, televangelist Oral Roberts.
Education
ORU claims "educating the whole person" as one of its core values. 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, 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, a graduate education program and a graduate business school.
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 much relaxed for the first time in forty years. 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). The current dress code is described as business casual. 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]
Futuristic architecture
The campus had a futuristic look when it was built in 1963 but by 2007 its appearance was described as "dated, like Disney's Tomorrowland."[3] The university's main entrance is called The Avenue of Flags and lined with lighted flags representing the more than 60 nations from which ORU students have been drawn. A 60 ft (18.2 m), 30 ton sculpture called Praying Hands highlights this street and is reportedly the largest bronze structure in the United States. The John D. Messick Learning Resource Center / Marajen Chinigo Graduate Center is a 900,000 square foot (80,000 m²) building with many pylon-like columns which the university says was styled after King Solomon's Temple. 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 Prayer Tower at the center of campus is said 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 campus with a 60 story hospital but closed in 1989 because of financial problems. The facility is now rented as commercial office space under the name CityPlex.
History
Oral Roberts 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. Oral Roberts' son Richard Roberts was named President in 1993. The school was accredited in 1971 by The Higher Learning Commission of the North Central Association of Colleges and Schools.[4] It is also accredited by the Association of Theological Schools in the United States and Canada.[5]
Failed medical and law schools
The university started the Oral Roberts University School of Medicine in 1981 but financial difficulties led to the school's closure in 1989. In 1986 Oral Roberts University "shut down its ailing law school and sent its library to Robertson's Bible-based college in Virginia" which subsequently founded the Regent University School of law.[6]
Controversies
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 that 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.[7]
Political entanglement and financial misappropriation
In October 2007 a lawsuit was filed in Tulsa County by three former professors who claimed to have been wrongfully terminated, among other accusations. They alleged misuse of university funds and illegal university support for Republican Randi Miller's political campaign for mayor of Tulsa.[8] Further allegations against Roberts include his use of university resources and funds to pay for his daughter's trip to The Bahamas by providing the university jet and billing other costs to the school, maintaining a stable of horses on campus and at university expense for the exclusive use of his children, summoning university and ministry employees to the Roberts home to do his daughters’ homework, remodeling his home with university funds 11 times in the past 14 years and purchasing a red Mercedes convertible and a Lexus SUV for his wife Lindsay.[9]
Lindsay Roberts, who is called ORU's "first lady" by the university's website, is also accused of spending tens of thousands of dollars of university money on clothes, awarding nonacademic scholarships to the children of friends and sending text messages on university-issued cell phones to people described in the lawsuit as "underage males."[10] The lawsuit claims the university worked with the Republican National Committee "in an effort to further Republican efforts" and that university staff were regularly required to do her daughters' homework. 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.[11]
Athletics
Oral Roberts University is a member of The Summit League. Its athletic programs include basketball, cross country, golf, soccer, tennis, and track and field for men and women. Additionally, there is a baseball program for men and volleyball for women.
The men's basketball team, coached by Scott Sutton, went to the 2006 NCAA tournament as the #16 seed, but lost in the first round to #1 seeded Memphis. On November 15, 2006, the unranked Oral Roberts basketball team stunned the #3 team in the nation, the University of Kansas, at the Allen Fieldhouse in Lawrence, Kansas, 78-71. With a 71-67 victory over Oakland on March 6, 2007, Oral Roberts entered the NCAA Men's Basketball Tournament for the second straight season as 14th seed. They were defeated 70-54 by Washington State University in the first round of the tournament. ORU just missed making it to the Final Four in 1974 after losing a second half lead to Kansas. KU, the eventual national champion, won the game in overtime at the ORU Mabee Center.
ORU's women's basketball team has appeared in four NCAA Tournaments in the past eight seasons.
The baseball team has arguably been the most successful athletic program at the university. 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. In 2005, the Golden Eagles advanced to the NCAA Super Regionals losing at Clemson. The baseball team has enjoyed being ranked in the national top 25 at times.
ORU's athletic teams for both men and women are known as the Golden Eagles, a change which became effective on April 30, 1993.
Originally, ORU's nicknames were the Titans for men and the Lady Titans for women. These monikers were adopted in 1965 by a vote of the student body, many of whom were from the East Coast or were either casual or serious New York Titans (now known as Jets) football fans.
The nicknames endured until 1993, when a search for a new nickname was concluded with the selection of the Golden Eagles. ORU's new mascot, "Eli" the Golden Eagle, hatched out of his papier-mache egg on November 17, 1993, before the start of an exhibition basketball game. With this unveiling, the Golden Eagle nickname became the official symbol of a new era in ORU athletics. ELI stands for Education, Lifeskills, and Integrity.
ORU in popular culture
- The Simpsons character Ned Flanders is a graduate of Oral Roberts University.[12]
- Stephen Colbert picked ORU to win the 2006 NCAA Tournament because they have a 900 foot Jesus on their team.[13]
- The Broadway musical Dirty Rotten Scoundrels references Oral Roberts University in the song "Olkahoma?"
Notable ORU people
| 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.[14] | |
| David Barton | Author and commentator.[15][16] | Alumnus | |
| Todd Burns | Former Major League Baseball player.[17] | Alumnus | |
| Kenneth Copeland | Minister | [citation needed] | |
| Kathie Lee Gifford | American singer, songwriter, and actress.[18] | Alumna | |
| Brian Graden | Television executive | BA in business, 1985 [19] | |
| Michael Graham | Conservative talk radio host and author | [citation needed] | |
| Ted Haggard | Minister.[18] | Graduate of 1978 [3] | |
| Kathryn Kuhlman | Televangelist | Honorary degree, 1972[4] | |
| Keith Lockhart | Former Major League Baseball player.[17] | ||
| Ron Luce | Founder / President, Teen Mania Ministries | B.A., Theology, 1983 [20] | |
| Keith Miller | Former Major League Baseball player.[17] | ||
| Don Moen | Christian musician composer | [citation needed] | |
| Mike Moore | Former Major League Baseball player.[17] | ||
| Joel Osteen | Televangelist and author | Honorary degree, 2007. [citation needed] | |
| Carlton Pearson | Pastor | [citation needed] | |
| Richard Roberts | Evangelist and current Oral Roberts University president, son of founder Oral Roberts | B.A. and M.Th. [citation needed] | |
| Clifton Taulbert | Author | B.A.[citation needed] | |
| Haywoode Workman | Former National Basketball Association player.[18] | ||
| Bob Zupcic | Former Major League Baseball player.[17] |
Notes
- ^ http://www.ncahlc.org/index.php?option=com_directory&Itemid=192&Action=ShowBasic&instid=1634
- ^ "Ties and Skirts: Addressing the Issue" (HTML). ORU:Alumni Foundation. Retrieved 2006-06-29.
{{cite web}}: Cite has empty unknown parameters:|month=and|coauthors=(help) - ^ Justin Juozapavicius, Associated Press, Scandal Brewing at Oral Roberts U., 5 October 2007 retrieved 7 October 2007.
- ^ http://admissions.oru.edu/accreditationfacts.html
- ^ http://www.ats.edu/member_schools/oralrobt.asp
- ^ Savage, Charlie (April 8, 2007). "Scandal puts spotlight on Christian law school". Boston Globe. Retrieved 2007-04-08.
- ^ D.R. McConnell, A Different Gospel, updated edition, (Hendrickson, 1995).
- ^ "3 Former Professors Sue Oral Roberts U.,". October 4, 2007. Retrieved 2007-09-24.
{{cite web}}: Unknown parameter|Publisher=ignored (|publisher=suggested) (help) - ^ "Oral Roberts president faces corruption lawsuit". October 5, 2007. Retrieved 2007-09-24.
{{cite web}}: Unknown parameter|Publisher=ignored (|publisher=suggested) (help) - ^ "Oral Roberts president faces corruption lawsuit". October 5, 2007. Retrieved 2007-09-24.
{{cite web}}: Unknown parameter|Publisher=ignored (|publisher=suggested) (help) - ^ Tulsa World (October 2007). "Swails, Brooker, Brooker v. Oral Roberts University, et al" (PDF). Retrieved 2007-09-24.
{{cite web}}: Unknown parameter|Publisher=ignored (|publisher=suggested) (help) - ^ "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.'"
- ^ http://www.commonsense.wnymedia.net/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=302&Itemid=42
- ^ Congressional biography of Michelle Bachmann, accessed April 7, 2007
- ^ 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."
- ^ David Barton Biography, accessed April 7, 2007
- ^ a b c d e Oral Roberts University Baseball Players Who Made it to the Major Leagues, Baseball Almanac, accessed April 7, 2007
- ^ a b c Oral Roberts profile, The Spokesman-Review, March 12, 2007
- ^ http://www.usatoday.com/life/television/news/2005-06-26-logo-network_x.htm?csp=34
- ^ "Alumni Feature: The Front Lines of Evangelism". ORU Excellence. Oral Roberts University. Fall 1990. Retrieved 2007-10-06.