Just John wrote: ↑July 11th, 2021, 8:20 pm
https://intrust.org/Magazine/Issues/Aut ... f-a-crisis
This is a really good article on the changes on the Board of Regents at Oral Roberts University after Richard Roberts "resigned" in 2007. Many of the similarities between his time at ORU and Jerry Jr. are uncanny...allegations of using school funds to help elect the local mayor, use of school funds/airplane for personal vacations including trip for daughter to the Bahamas, and his wife having an inappropriate relationship with a male student. Years later he would be convicted on a DUI.
There are also some similarities with a crony board. ORU had the likes of Benny Hinn, Jessee Duplantis, Creflo Dollar and Kenneth Copeland. The advantage Green had was ORU was in serious financial straits and he was able to dictate necessary changes becuae he was willing to bail them out. I know Sr. did not always feel good about having Borek forced on him but it was necessary.
This is a very good observation! My background is a bit unique in that I have two Liberty degrees (one under Sr's leadership and one in 2008 when Jr had just taken over). I also have a degree from ORU which I obtained in 2015. I was on ORU's campus for multiple week-long intensives and would often pick the brains of faculty members about the near death and rebirth of ORU post-Richard Roberts' presidency.
Here's my basic observation: While there are a lot of similarities, there are some key differences between the ORU and LU situations which make me less hopeful that LU will follow the same path as ORU:
1. ORU was in SUBSTANTIAL financial distress during the Roberts scandal. This cannot be overstated. I personally spoke to faculty members who lived through this and it was literally "day to day" as to whether the school was even going to remain open. When the Green family stepped in to donate money, they actually made a smaller first donation just to meet payroll and to keep the school's doors open through the end of the fall semester. The larger (70 million?) donation would come later after the initial bleeding stopped.
Conversely, Liberty is flush with cash and I don't think they feel the need to approach the situation with as much humility as ORU had to. ORU, and it's board, were at the mercy of the Green family. The crisis for them was existential on a level not experienced by LU.
2. The money that ORU got from the Green family came with many, many strings attached. The Green family pushed ORU to move towards a "shared governance" model where faculty have more say so in the school's direction. While they gave ORU a small(er) donation to keep the school open, the larger donation (the one that saved the school) was contingent on the resignation of all board members. The gaggle of televangelists which made up the board did the right thing and resigned their positions en masse so that the Greens could move forward in restructuring the school.
This was a minor miracle in and of itself. The board had to choose to relinquish it's power. To their credit, they got out of the way.
3. ORU was blessed to have the right person step up as president. I cannot speak too positively about Mark Rutland and his leadership of the school. He made the necessary changes while bringing ORU back to their mission. I was also impressed by his lack of ego: He stepped in to run the school for about 5 years. Once it got back on track, he handed the baton to Billy Wilson (who as turned out to be a fine leader in his own right).
A side story about Rutland: He was president at Southeastern University when was approached by the Greens to take over ORU. He actually turned it down several times because he had committed to seeing through a capital fundraising campaign at Southeastern. The Greens actually gave several million to Southeastern so that the promise could be kept and Rutland could move onto ORU without breaking his word.
4. The faculty themselves played a major role. Richard Roberts received a "no confidence" vote from the faculty of ORU. This was a huge deal and a key turning point. I know one of the faculty members involved with this. She said all who voted did so with the understanding that their careers were on the line. In the aftermath of the no confidence vote, Oral Roberts himself (retired in California and in his late 80s) came to Tulsa to try to reason with the faculty. They were unmoved and even the old evangelist himself understood that the reign of Richard was coming to an end. If the school named after him was to be saved, he would need to work with the Greens (which he did until his death a few years later).
Just my .02. I've lurked in these forums for years and finally felt the need to jump in. haha