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	Embattled Oral Roberts University Getting $70m By Kirby Lee Davis Journal Record November 28, 2007 http://www.journalrecord.com/article.cfm?recid=83945 The owners of the Hobby Lobby and Mardel retail chains pledged $70 million Tuesday to help the embattled Oral Roberts University from financial straits. Mart Green said the Green family would provide $8 million now to help the Tulsa university handle short-term liquidity problems in the face of an estimated $52 million shortfall. Pastor George Pearsons, chairman of the ORU Board of Regents, said the Christian school also had received a $2 million donation Tuesday from an unnamed source. "ORU must restore its broken trust," said Green, who voiced his support for the university's spiritual mission. "Now is the time for healing." Started by David Green in 1970, what is now the Hobby Lobby Creative Centers employs a staff of 18,000 at about 400 stores in 30 states, with projected 2007 sales of $1.8 billion. Mart Green is the chief executive of Mardel Christian Book Stores, a subsidiary of Hobby Lobby. Pearsons said the university had begun an extensive review of administrative operations as recommended by the Washington D.C. consultants Miller & Chevalier. Ending two days of board meetings, Pearsons said Tuesday evening that the board would move to completely sever the university from the Oral Roberts Evangelistic Association. This had actually started years ago to meet Internal Revenue Service requirements, he admitted, only to see the two separate nonprofits slowly begin to share administrative staffs and other elements. Pastor Billy Joe Daugherty will continue to serve as acting president while the university completes a search process to replace Richard Roberts, who resigned Friday as head of the school. Roberts remains chief executive of the evangelistic association and, with his father, a spiritual regent on the board, although with no ability to impact policy. Green, who said he had not seen that Miller & Chevalier report, said the university's efforts to adopt changes on financial, leadership and governance issues over the next 60 to 90 days would determine the fate of the remaining $62 million. But he warned that changes must take place immediately – starting with the board itself. "As individuals I don't know a single one of them," he said of the regents, who sat directly below him at the news conference, "but as a board they were at the helm when some of this happened." The Green family will play a role not just in evaluating, but shaping those changes, including taking two seats on the ORU board. "Our goal is to get a great board in here," he said, at which point he suggested the Green family representatives may resign their posts. Green said the family will look not just at financial matters, but at recent legal allegations and other factors. "We haven't seen the books," he said. "We will do a complete business review." This unrest started about two months after a wrongful termination lawsuit accused Richard Roberts of misappropriating university funds to support his family's lifestyle. Pearsons did not address any of those allegations. Green said his family, which has no prior connection to the Oral Roberts family or the university, started discussing possible aid after seeing the plight of the students and faculty. After Richard Roberts resigned Friday, the Greens decided to make this offer to the ORU board. "We do not want to see this organization go down," he said. "But with that money there must be changes."
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