Amid all the turmoil plaguing Oral Roberts University, it appears as if things might be turning a corner because, in addition to a Christian businessman’s pledge to bail out the debt-ridden institution with a $70 million donation, it seems as if Pat Robertson is set to take advantage offer his assistance:
A team from Regent University will travel to financially troubled Oral Roberts University in Tulsa, Okla., on Monday to explore “options” for ties between the institutions.
“We are pleased to report that Dr. Pat Robertson, president and chancellor of Regent University and long-time friend of Oral Roberts University, has contacted members of the board of regents and has expressed interest in exploring options for the future of ORU with Regent University,” George Pearsons, chairman of the ORU Board of Regents, said in a statement posted on the university’s Web site.
“Dr. Robertson is sending a team on Monday to Tulsa to meet with ORU Regents and administrative representatives,” he said
It should be noted that Robertson’s Regent University Law School got its start back in the mid-80s when ORU, like today, was facing financial difficulties:
The Regent law school was founded in 1986, when Oral Roberts University shut down its ailing law school and sent its library to Robertson’s Bible-based college in Virginia.
Regent didn’t just get ORU’s “entire law library, [but] some students and faculty” as well.
Who knows what part of ORU Robertson has his eye on this time.
Speaking of Robertson and Regent, Adam Key, the Regent Law School student suspended and ordered to undergo a mental evaluation for posting an unflattering photo of Robertson on his web page, has apparently decided to sue:
A Regent University law student who was suspended for posting an unflattering photo of school founder Pat Robertson on the Internet sued the university and Robertson on Thursday.
Adam M. Key, 23, claims in the federal suit that Regent officials violated his free speech and due process rights for expressing his “Christian religious and political opinions” when it suspended him in October.
…
“I went there because I wanted an environment conducive to learning that had a respect for religious liberty, but the only liberty they are interested in defending is theirs and people like them,” Key said in a telephone interview with The Associated Press on Thursday.
Because the private university receives federal funds, it is required under the U.S. Higher Education Act to respect students’ freedom of religion and expression.
The lawsuit also alleges Key was “fraudulently induced” to attend Regent. “Adam relied on Regent’s many claims of religious liberty and speech” and the law school’s American Bar Association accreditation, the lawsuit states.
