Trustees decide to pay a $7.5 million note and announce Richard Roberts and his family are moving off campus.

Oral Roberts University's new governing board tried to get a grasp on the school's finances during its first meeting, which ended Thursday.

The board of trustees decided to use $7.5 million of a $62 million donation from the Green family to pay a note coming due soon, ORU reported Thursday. ORU's debt, announced last fall as $52.5 million, will then stand at $45 million.

"This gift gets us started on the journey" but does not answer every need, board Chairman Mart Green, of the donor family, said during a press conference after the two-day board meeting.

Green also announced that former ORU President Richard Roberts and his family would be moving out of university-owned housing and that the Oral Roberts Evangelistic Association also would move off campus.

Debt: Green said ORU has $60 million in deferred maintenance costs, which Interim President Ralph Fagin said have accumulated over about 20 years. Every building on campus, along with the ORU-owned CityPlex Towers, has needs, Green

Trustees will prioritize the needs with input from students. Improving the dorms could help recruit students, Green said; enrollment is down about 500 students from 2000, and more students mean more tuition revenue for ORU.

ORU is taking a financial loss as it separates from Oral Roberts Evangelistic Association and probably is operating in the red, Green said. Tuition makes up about 75 percent of ORU's budget, which is on par with other colleges. Now, ORU leaders are working to raise donations to make up the rest of the budget.

It remains to be seen whether people who have donated to ORU through the evangelistic association will switch to donating directly to ORU or will donate to the association, which is led by Richard Roberts, Green said. ORU will raise its own money now.

Since ORU opened its doors to students in 1965, the evangelistic association has funded ORU. "It's never operated as a typical college," Green said.

The two organizations are separating following allegations, made in a lawsuit last fall, that Roberts misspent their money. He denied wrongdoing and said he always paid for his family's personal expenses. An independent audit of ORU's finances has not been made public. Roberts resigned the ORU presidency in November.

The Green family's plan requires ORU to join the Evangelical Council for Financial Accountability, and Green said he expects that to happen by the end of the year.

The Green family indicated its final approval of its deal with ORU on Wednesday, when Green handed over three checks totaling $62 million at a campus chapel service.

The plan said the family wanted to be reasonably satisfied that lawsuits against ORU could be settled fairly for the university. Green said Thursday his family was encouraged that one of three professors who sued ORU had settled, and "We just had to take a risk at some point. . . . We needed to get moving forward."

Presidential search: The new board's most important job will be to choose a president, Green said. By the board's next meeting April 16 and 17, a group of trustees will have determined what characteristics ORU needs in a president. Then, the board will form a presidential search committee and hire an outside consultant.

Board business: At the meeting, the board ratified revised bylaws and articles of incorporation. ORU listed four new trustees: former ORU regent Michael Hammer, former regent Scott Cordray, Mary Banks and Jay Betz. R. Lamar Vest, initially listed as a trustee, is not on the board.

ORU changes: Green said the Roberts family would move out of campus housing but said he did not know where the family would move. Roberts did not return a phone call on Thursday afternoon. ORU administrators are working on a severance package for Roberts that they will present to the board for consideration, Green said.

Fagin estimated that the evangelistic association would move out of the Prayer Tower on campus by the end of the semester in early May. Employees who work for the association and ORU will end up working for one or the other, based on their jobs, abilities and preferences, Fagin said.

ORU's TV station, which broadcasts Roberts' "Hour of Healing," and the ORU-owned CityPlex Towers are off the market while trustees look into whether they are profitable and whether to keep them, Green said.

April Marciszewski 581-8475
april.marciszewski@tulsaworld.com