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Oral Roberts University in line for $70 million gift
www.star-telegram.com
TULSA — Oral Roberts University‘s regents announced Tuesday that they would legally and financially separate the university from the ministry headed by Richard Roberts, the television evangelist accused in October in a lawsuit of tapping university and ministry money to finance a lavish lifestyle.
During a two-day closed-door meeting, the Board of Regents also decided to accept the resignation of Roberts, who began a leave of absence Oct. 17 from his position as university president when he and his wife, Lindsay Roberts, were accused of financial and personal misconduct. He announced his resignation Friday.
George Pearsons, chairman of the Board of Regents, initially announced at a news conference Tuesday that the university received $10 million in donations during the two-day meeting.
Then Oklahoma City businessman Mart Green said Tuesday that he planned to donate $70 million to the debt-ridden university.
Green, founder of Mardel, a Christian office and educational supply store chain, said he decided to help after watching media reports about the school, which recently revealed that it was more than $50 million in debt. He never attended the university and does not know the Roberts family, he said.
“Let’s straighten the ship,” Green said at a news conference at the university. “Let’s get integrity. Let’s get trust built back, and the financial issues will go away.”
Green said he would immediately give $8 million, to be followed by a review of the university’s financial records that could take as long as 90 days.
His family must approve the review before giving the remaining $62 million, he said. Mardel is affiliated with Hemispheres furniture stores and Hobby Lobby craft stores, all of which operate in North Texas.
Oral Roberts University, a liberal-arts university with 5,300 students in Tulsa, describes itself as “a God-centered university that upholds a Christian worldview with a charismatic emphasis.”
The school’s regents said they planned to separate the finances and leadership of the university from the Oral Roberts Evangelistic Association.
The association is a nonprofit ministry that produces television and radio programs, including The Hour of Healing, among its many outreaches, according to its Web site.
The university has been under the ministry since its inception in 1963, an arrangement that critics say led to commingling of funds and a blurring of leadership roles.
Richard Roberts will remain chairman of the association and be allowed to live in his university-owned home near campus for the time being, Pearsons said.
Roberts and his father, Oral Roberts, the university’s founder, will remain “spiritual regents” but will not be allowed to vote on university matters.
Lindsay Roberts stepped down as a regent about a month ago, Pearsons said.
Sen. Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, recently announced a Senate investigation into whether six celebrity preachers violated their organizations’ tax-exempt status by living lavishly on the contributions of small donors.
Three of the six are members of the Oral Roberts board: Creflo Dollar, Benny Hinn and Fort Worth-area evangelist Kenneth Copeland.
This report includes material from Star-Telegram archives, The New York Times and The Associated Press.
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