ORU taps trustees, interim president
BY APRIL MARCISZEWSKI World Staff Writer
Wednesday, January 16, 2008
1/17/08 at 11:17 AM
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All 13 proposed trustees of Oral
Roberts University have agreed to
serve on the school's new governing
board, and ORU's $70 million benefactors have chosen one of the
school's administrators to serve as
interim president, donor Mart
Green said Tuesday.
Also Tuesday, the board of regents named a transition board to
help as ORU changes from its board
of regents to a new model of shared
governance, in which employees
have input into decisions, Green
said.
An ORU spokesman did not comment Tuesday, but said he expected to make information on
developments available
Wednesday.
On Monday, ORU's board of
regents unanimously approved the Green family plan
for shared governance and
other changes that are accompanying a final $62 million donation. Attorneys are finishing
revised bylaws and articles of
incorporation; Green said officials probably will sign final
documents Monday.
Two seven-day waiting periods, which end Jan. 28, remain
before the Green plan and donation become official, but on
Monday, Green and regents
Chairman George Pearsons
were emphatic that it was a
done deal.
After the transition to the
new board of trustees, ORU
Executive Vice President for
Academic Affairs Ralph Fagin
will serve as interim president,
Green said. The Green family
was looking for an interim
who did not aspire to be president. Fagin is a longtime ORU
employee who will be able to
take care of the faculty and administration during the
months of the presidential
search, which the trustees will
direct, Green said.
Although the new president
will make personnel decisions, Green said he is not
planning or expecting major
changes to ORU's administration.
Various trustees will bring
knowledge and institutional
memory of ORU and experience with shared governance,
Green said. A board of regents
meeting is tentatively planned
for Monday, when the board is
expected to nominate six regents, from whom the Green
family will choose three to
serve as trustees.
Trustees must agree with
common beliefs of Christianity and beliefs specific to ORU,
such as speaking in tongues,
according to the Greens' proposal.
"We feel like we'll keep going the same direction as far
as the core mission of ORU,"
Green said.
All current regents are invited to transition to the forthcoming, non-voting board of
reference, and Green said he
hopes most will accept.
Financial
accountability
The Greens' plan for ORU
includes a requirement that
ORU belong to the Evangelical Council for Financial Accountability, which requires
its members to make available
to those who request them annual financial statements and
reports for any projects that involve fundraising.
"It will give confidence to
donors that the accountability
is there," Green said.
The council's president,
Ken Behr, said application for
membership can take six
weeks to years, depending on
changes the organization
needs to make. Usually, the
hardest changes regard the
governing board, which must
be independent of the organi
zation, but ORU's board already is changing under the
Greens' proposal, he said.
"The board is there to make
sure the organization has integrity long term," Behr said.
The council requires audited financial statements, a lack
of conflicts of interest and a
high level of accountability in
fundraising, he said.
Membership in the council
means a nonprofit group is following best practices, he said.
The group has more than
2,000 members, including other Christian universities, he
said.
Miscellaneous issues
Pearsons said Monday that
ORU does not plan to make
public an audit conducted by
an outside law firm following
allegations that former President Richard Roberts misspent ORU and Oral Roberts
Evangelistic Association money. He said the board of regents heard the audit verbally
given and continues to work
with that information. Green
said Tuesday, "We have never
had access to that report."
Pearsons also said Monday
that whether Richard Roberts
and his family will continue to
live in an on-campus house is
being discussed. Roberts resigned the presidency Nov. 23
but remains CEO of OREA; he
has denied wrongdoing.
ORU continues to look into
selling its TV station, Pearsons said, but he and Green
said that is happening at a
slower pace. "These are assets
that we think the university
very well could use," Green
said.
April Marciszewski 581-8475
april.marciszewski@tulsaworld.com
ORU board
of trustees
Chairman Mart Green,
founder of Mardel Christian
and educational supply
stores and Every Tribe Entertainment
Don H. Argue, chancellor of
Northwest University outside
Seattle
Freddy Boswell, an ORU
graduate, Bible translator
and executive director of the
Summer Institute of Linguistics
International in Dallas
Stanley M. Burgess, a professor
at Pat Robertson’s
Regent University in Virginia
Beach, Va.
Hal Donaldson, editor in
chief of Today’s Pentecostal
Evangel magazine in
Springfield, Mo.
The Rev. Robert Hoskins,
founder of the Christian missions
organization Affect
Destiny Teams and president
and CEO of Book of
Hope International in Pompano,
Fla.
Lynette (Troyer) Lewis, a
motivational speaker and
ORU graduate who lives in
New York City and Cary,
N.C.
Ron Luce, ORU alumnus
and founder of Teen Mania
Ministries in Garden Valley,
Texas
Charles W. McKinney, an
administrator at Florida Gulf
Coast University in Fort
Myers, Fla.
Oral Roberts, founder of
ORU
Russell P. Spittler, retired
provost and professor of
Fuller Theological Seminary
in Pasadena, Calif.
R. Lamar Vest, an executive
of the American Bible
Society in New York City
William (Billy) Wilson of
Cleveland, Tenn., executive
director of the International
Center for Spiritual Renewal,
executive producer of
Voice of Salvation Ministries
and host of “World Impact”
weekly TV show
Associated Images:
FILLING IN
Ralph Fagin: The
longtime ORU
official will be its
interim president.
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