# Oral Roberts U. is going DOWN!! **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [October 6, 2007, 6:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oral-roberts-u-is-going-down/421773 "2007-10-06T18:09:02Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Slithy\_Tove](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/slithy_tove/32/18248_2.png) [@Slithy\_Tove](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Slithy_Tove)\ **Post date:** [October 6, 2007, 8:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oral-roberts-u-is-going-down/421773/21 "2007-10-06T20:47:31Z")
[For the curious, here’s a photo of Lindsay Roberts](http://www.harrisonhouse.com/images/Authors/au_lrobertslarge.jpg). I thought the cougars were Washington State. ---
**Author:** ![OneCentStamp](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/13edae/32.png) [@OneCentStamp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/OneCentStamp)\ **Post date:** [October 6, 2007, 8:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oral-roberts-u-is-going-down/421773/22 "2007-10-06T20:52:47Z")
[QUOTE=Slithy Tove] [For the curious, here’s a photo of Lindsay Roberts](http://www.harrisonhouse.com/images/Authors/au_lrobertslarge.jpg). I thought the cougars were Washington State. [/QUOTE] Meh, I’d hit it. Of course, at 34, I’m roughly twice the age of her preferred quarry. ☹ ---
**Author:** ![John\_Mace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_mace/32/185_2.png) [@John\_Mace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_Mace)\ **Post date:** [October 6, 2007, 9:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oral-roberts-u-is-going-down/421773/23 "2007-10-06T21:03:17Z")
[QUOTE=Slithy Tove] [For the curious, here’s a photo of Lindsay Roberts](http://www.harrisonhouse.com/images/Authors/au_lrobertslarge.jpg). I thought the cougars were Washington State. [/QUOTE] She’s pretty attractive, although no spring chicken. I may not be in the mainstream on this, but I tend to reserve the term “cougar” for divorced women of a certain age. ---
**Author:** ![RTFirefly](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/c77e96/32.png) [@RTFirefly](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RTFirefly)\ **Post date:** [October 7, 2007, 12:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oral-roberts-u-is-going-down/421773/24 "2007-10-07T00:13:52Z")
[QUOTE=John Mace] How are they “going down”. There’s a lawsuit in progress. That’s “going down”? Seems to me that, at most, a change in management might take place. There’s too much invested in that place for the owners, whoever that is, to just shut it down. [/QUOTE] The legal owners would of course be the [Board of Regents](http://www.oru.edu/selfstudy/vrr/index.php?dir=Governance/Board%20of%20Regents/). But this is a university that was founded by Richard Roberts’ father, Oral Roberts. And Oral Roberts, Richard Roberts, and Lindsay “Cougar” Roberts are all on the Board of Regents as “Lifetime Spiritual Trustees.” So while it’s possible that the Regents may be capable of independent action, it isn’t exactly the way to bet. On the main ORU page, Roberts’ statement and the Regents’ are pretty much accorded the same stature, and look to have been placed in tandem. But even if the Regents kick Richard and Lindsay Roberts to the curb, the University still has Oral Roberts’ name on the label, and this puts one hell of a tarnish on the family name. It’s gonna rock the school’s fortunes pretty seriously. ---
**Author:** ![Rhubarb](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/59ef9b/32.png) [@Rhubarb](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rhubarb)\ **Post date:** [October 7, 2007, 12:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oral-roberts-u-is-going-down/421773/25 "2007-10-07T00:34:58Z")
Am I the only one to be surprised that a man named “Oral” has a son (nick)named “Dick”? ---
**Author:** ![Sophistry\_and\_Illusion](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/b3f665/32.png) [@Sophistry\_and\_Illusion](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sophistry_and_Illusion)\ **Post date:** [October 7, 2007, 2:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oral-roberts-u-is-going-down/421773/26 "2007-10-07T02:35:21Z")
Whew! What with this scandal brewing, it’s a good thing I didn’t accept that scholarship offer from ORU when I was looking at colleges. My degree would be worthless crap! ---
**Author:** ![elucidator](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/8edcca/32.png) [@elucidator](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elucidator)\ **Post date:** [October 7, 2007, 3:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oral-roberts-u-is-going-down/421773/27 "2007-10-07T03:08:31Z")
Oh, I don’t know, the abstinence advocacy programs are still hiring. ---
**Author:** ![elucidator](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/8edcca/32.png) [@elucidator](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elucidator)\ **Post date:** [October 7, 2007, 5:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oral-roberts-u-is-going-down/421773/28 "2007-10-07T05:37:11Z")
Anybody else look at her picture and flash on Dean Wurmer’s wife in\* Animal House\*? ---
**Author:** ![Princhester](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/3e96dc/32.png) [@Princhester](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Princhester)\ **Post date:** [October 7, 2007, 10:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oral-roberts-u-is-going-down/421773/29 "2007-10-07T10:52:11Z")
My very limited experience of major evangelists is that they try to project an image of wealth. Do their followers actually think they _don’t_ live the high life off the donations they receive? I thought that was an accepted part of the deal. ---
**Author:** ![TokyoBayer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tokyobayer/32/13989_2.png) [@TokyoBayer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TokyoBayer)\ **Post date:** [October 7, 2007, 12:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oral-roberts-u-is-going-down/421773/30 "2007-10-07T12:46:15Z")
From the linked article: > [@](#): > > Roberts said God told him: “We live in a litigious society. Anyone can get mad and file a lawsuit against another person whether they have a legitimate case or not. This lawsuit … is about intimidation, blackmail and extortion.” It’s nice to know that God comes down on Steven Pinker’s side of the anyone / they vs. anyone / he or she argument. Maybe God talks to people up North afterall. Who knew? ---
**Author:** ![Typo\_Negative](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/typo_negative/32/484_2.png) [@Typo\_Negative](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Typo_Negative)\ **Post date:** [October 7, 2007, 9:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oral-roberts-u-is-going-down/421773/31 "2007-10-07T21:59:02Z")
Am I the only one who is starting to feel a _little_ bit sorry for Mr. Roberts? I’m thinking that man has whip marks all up and down his back. ---
**Author:** ![Boyo\_Jim](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/87869e/32.png) [@Boyo\_Jim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Boyo_Jim)\ **Post date:** [October 8, 2007, 12:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oral-roberts-u-is-going-down/421773/32 "2007-10-08T00:37:28Z")
[QUOTE=spooje] Am I the only one who is starting to feel a _little_ bit sorry for Mr. Roberts? I’m thinking that man has whip marks all up and down his back. [/QUOTE] Yes, you are the only one. ---
**Author:** ![Muffin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/muffin/32/4341_2.png) [@Muffin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Muffin)\ **Post date:** [October 8, 2007, 2:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oral-roberts-u-is-going-down/421773/33 "2007-10-08T02:06:54Z")
After so many years of so many hypocritical male religious authorities getting tangled up in sick sex scandals, it’s nice to finally see a hypocritical female religious authority getting tangled up in a sick sex scandal. ---
**Author:** ![wring](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/838e76/32.png) [@wring](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wring)\ **Post date:** [October 8, 2007, 2:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oral-roberts-u-is-going-down/421773/34 "2007-10-08T02:11:26Z")
we’ve come a long way, baby! ---
**Author:** ![elucidator](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/8edcca/32.png) [@elucidator](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elucidator)\ **Post date:** [October 8, 2007, 7:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oral-roberts-u-is-going-down/421773/35 "2007-10-08T07:12:10Z")
And what a long, strange trip its been… ---
**Author:** ![danceswithcats](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/9e8a1a/32.png) [@danceswithcats](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/danceswithcats)\ **Post date:** [October 8, 2007, 7:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oral-roberts-u-is-going-down/421773/36 "2007-10-08T07:58:11Z")
I’ll go with PIRG = Pretentious Idiots Referencing God. ---
**Author:** ![CrankyAsAnOldMan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/crankyasanoldman/32/11670_2.png) [@CrankyAsAnOldMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CrankyAsAnOldMan)\ **Post date:** [October 8, 2007, 1:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oral-roberts-u-is-going-down/421773/37 "2007-10-08T13:56:15Z")
I don’t have any great fondness for Oral Roberts U, but I find it curious that the OP is gleeful about the possible (?) demise of the University. That would harm a lot of people–students, professors, staff–that have little to do with the hijinks of the high-living, hubris-loving, drunk-on-Jesus hypocrites who founded the place. I guess you can argue that these staff and students made a questionable, misguided choice, but it just seems particularly shitty-spirited to cheer and gloat and hope for the University to “go down.” ---
**Author:** ![Shirley\_Ujest](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/45deac/32.png) [@Shirley\_Ujest](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shirley_Ujest)\ **Post date:** [October 8, 2007, 1:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oral-roberts-u-is-going-down/421773/38 "2007-10-08T13:59:39Z")
[QUOTE=Rhubarb] Am I the only one to be surprised that a man named “Oral” has a son (nick)named “Dick”? [/QUOTE] I’m hoping he has a daughter named " Starfish". That’d be sweet. ---
**Author:** ![Mr.Moto](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/9de0a6/32.png) [@Mr.Moto](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr.Moto)\ **Post date:** [October 8, 2007, 2:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oral-roberts-u-is-going-down/421773/39 "2007-10-08T14:19:17Z")
[QUOTE=CrankyAsAnOldMan] I don’t have any great fondness for Oral Roberts U, but I find it curious that the OP is gleeful about the possible (?) demise of the University. That would harm a lot of people–students, professors, staff–that have little to do with the hijinks of the high-living, hubris-loving, drunk-on-Jesus hypocrites who founded the place. I guess you can argue that these staff and students made a questionable, misguided choice, but it just seems particularly shitty-spirited to cheer and gloat and hope for the University to “go down.” [/QUOTE] I don’t find it particularly curious. Par for the course, sadly. And while I don’t have any great love for televangelists or their theology for the most part, I don’t wish special harm on them or their churches. I’d like to ask the OP whether the various missteps and indiscretions committed by leaders of issues he cares about invalidate in any way the messages they convey. This is a very important question, and I don’t think it can easily be answered just by making vague complaints about hypocrisy. After all, that criticism is against the messenger and not his message. Can’t a hypocrite be telling the truth? And if he does, should you listen? ---
**Author:** ![Mollie\_Magill](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mollie_magill/32/20882_2.png) [@Mollie\_Magill](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mollie_Magill)\ **Post date:** [October 8, 2007, 2:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oral-roberts-u-is-going-down/421773/40 "2007-10-08T14:55:56Z")
[QUOTE=Talkingpoints] Now, his son, Oral Roberts University President Richard Roberts, says God is speaking again, telling him to deny lurid allegations in a lawsuit that threatens to engulf this 44-year-old Bible Belt college in scandal. [/QUOTE] I dunno, is this legal? Has God passed the Bar in Oklahoma? [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oral-roberts-u-is-going-down/421773.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oral-roberts-u-is-going-down/421773.md?page=3)