Tulsa World: Potential ORU students let God guide them

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Potential ORU students let God guide them

Keith Wigner (right) gives a tour of Oral Roberts University to Dustin Wise (left) ofPalmdale, Calif., and Emmanuel Fadare of Silver Springs, Md., on March 27. MIKE SIMONS / Tulsa World

By APRIL MARCISZEWSKI World Staff Writer
Published: 4/6/2008 3:30 AM
Last Modified: 8/18/2008 11:49 AM

Complete Coverage: Read the latest ORU stories, view the lawsuit and other documents and watch slide shows and video.

The campus' College Weekend gives students a chance to explore.

Deciding to go to Oral Roberts University might be the same as deciding whether to go to any other college: Is it affordable? What majors are offered? How much fun do students have?

Then there is the God factor.

Blake Trammell wanted to go to ORU, but he wanted to do what God wanted him to do, he said. He found out about ORU's College Weekend, held last weekend to give prospective students a taste of campus life. "God -- I don't know how to explain it -- told me I needed to go."

Trammell, from Rush Springs, feels like a lone Christian at the small state university he now attends.

He stepped foot on ORU's campus and, "I was just amazed to be surrounded by people with the same interests and goals and the same general purpose in life," he said. "I'm definitely going to go there."

ORU sophomore Meredith Hobson remembers when she visited ORU. The financial aid and admissions officials all told her it was OK if ORU was not right for her. "We just want you to be exactly where God wants you

to be," they said.

A few days attending classes, singing in a campus chapel service and hanging out with students gives potential students a sense they do not get from brochures and Web sites -- they figure out if they will fit in, Hobson said.

Fewer students showed up at College Weekend this year to make that consideration. Participation dropped 34 percent from last spring to 336 students, Chris Belcher, director of undergraduate admissions, said in an e-mail.

But 1,489 applications for admission show a drop of just 2 percent compared with this time last year. "We will bounce back," Belcher wrote.

Attendance at College Weekend last fall was scant, too, with 337 prospective students.

That event hit in the middle of former professors and other ORU insiders lobbing accusations of misspending and mismanagement at President Richard Roberts, who denied wrongdoing but resigned just after Thanksgiving. Then, the family that founded Hobby Lobby and Mardel stores offered ORU $70 million if it agreed to make certain leadership and operational changes.

Hobson worked as a guide for prospective students during College Weekend both semesters this year.

"Last semester, I didn't have as many answers. Last semester, I was able to say, 'God is in control, and he has a plan and a purpose for you,' " she said. This semester, "I was able to say, 'You know what? It's been awesome. . . . We've all seen how God provides and just how he is in control.' "

ORU senior Michael Romero thinks that saga strengthens ORU's story.

"I think it shows we're not afraid to change, we're not afraid to move on," he said.

Several potential ORU students who attended College Weekend did not know much about the changes ORU has undergone, although they have considered the controversy in their decision-making.

Matthew Travis, a high school senior in Chickasha, said current ORU students did not seem hurt by the turmoil.

His biggest consideration in deciding between his final contenders -- ORU and Oklahoma Christian University in Edmond -- is whether he can get enough scholarships to make ORU more affordable, he said.

Emmanuel Fadare of Silver Springs, Md., sees that ORU is still standing and seems to be getting along. "I don't think I could go wrong if I go to this school."

He is waiting to see if he is accepted to ORU before he decides whether to consider other schools. His father and the bishop at his church have encouraged him to attend ORU.

Trammell said Richard Roberts did not play into his feelings about ORU, and he does not think the allegations against Roberts bring down the image of the entire university.

"Everyone is human, and everyone makes mistakes," he said. "I have made many mistakes -- I have no right to judge him. . . . The school still has integrity."

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

By APRIL MARCISZEWSKI World Staff Writer

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