ORU

Hi girls! Hope you all had a fabulous Thanksgiving weekend. Kimmy, your pictures are super cute! You're so pregnant! Can't wait to see Violet! Your house is also really nice. It looks beautiful. We had a good weekend with family. We all had a slumber party at mom and dad's house. Seth and Lilah had a blast playing with cousins. I wanted to touch base with you girls about all the happenings at ORU these days. I don't know if you guys have been following the situation as it unfolds, but it's pretty interesting. If you haven't been staying up on things, I highly recommend hitting the internet for the updates. Specifically, ORUs new Face Place for alumni has been pretty valuable and entertaining for getting up to date info and keeping a finger on the pulse of the campus right now. Quick overview: professors brought wrongful termination lawsuit against Richard and Lindsay after being fired abruptly when they addressed the board concerning a laundry list of allegations uncovered against the Roberts family. The news hit media and a private investigation was launched into the allegations by the Board of Regents. The faculty met to deliver a vote of "No Confidence" in Richard Roberts as president of ORU regardless of the investigation outcomes. Strong feeling that the Roberts had mismanaged funds and the university was ready for a change in leadership no matter what. Richard submitted his letter of resignation a few days ago and has stepped down permanently from position of president. Billy Joe Daugherty has been acting as an interim president in the meantime while the Board looks for a new president. Yesterday, the owner of Hobby Lobby and Mardels has promised 70 million dollars to ORU to relieve the university of its debt. The Board of Regents has now voted to accept Richard's resignation and also voted to completely separate ORU and the Oral Roberts Evangelistic Association from each other. They will no longer be associated and ORU will be its own entity under completely new leadership. Wow. It's been a big week in ORU history. I am really excited and prayerful that God is doing something big at ORU to restore it to its original purpose and I really hope the board gets a quality leader in Richard's place now. It's an important time to be praying for ORU and supporting the university despite past irritations with the administration. Because, as it turns out, the administration is getting cleaned out. I am really hopeful that we are on the edge of seeing a new day and an incredible era at ORU that will set the university up to be a strong academic and spiritual institution. Anyways, not to rant. You may be able to tell that I am supportive of the leadership change. But I thought you might all be interested in case you weren't aware of all the new stuff happening. Love you girls! I'm passionate about ORU for a lot of reasons, but it is, afterall, where I met my sapphire girls! Lets fight and support the university that brought us together so that future ORU girls can make their own friendship clubs to get them through life!