ORU gets campus makeover

By Jeffrey Smith for NEWS 9

TULSA, Okla. - Amidst debt and the resignation of the school's Chairman of the Board of Trustees, Oral Roberts University is getting a $10.5 million makeover.

The new Chairman of the Board of Trustees, Mart Green, gave back to the school, helping make some big improvements.

"We've been here for four years, so it's nice to see that the dorms are changing, the classrooms are changing," ORU senior Vlad Garuz said.

Some of the money went to pay down the school's debt, but the bulk went toward renovations.

"It's got the beautiful new seats in them, new carpets, new audio-visual equipment, new sound board. We took out all the carpets, so this is brand new carpets on the floor, and we also have new electrical plugs," said Green.

Many students are excited about the changes.

"Being able to personally see the before and after, and how much better it is now, is really cool," said ORU freshman Samantha Shoemaker.

Controversy continues to swirl around former president Richard Roberts. Roberts resigned last year and left the school in dire financial straits.

Green said he's committed to giving Roberts a severance package that he said is well-deserved.

"Richard did an incredible job keeping this place on mission. We don't know, we can't say about economic sustainability, but we're going to finish out his contract and paying that out," Green said.

The new Chairman of the Board of Trustees said the new era of O-R-U goes beyond the manual labor.

"There's renovations of property, sure, but there's also renovation of heart and the hope. The hope has arisen here at ORU," Green said.