Mart Green Discusses ORU Upgrades

The paint is still drying at some Oral Roberts University buildings.  But, the ORU Board of Trustees chairman Mart Green says the hard work is behind them.  Green gave the school more than $10 million for a summer makeover.    The News On 6's Jeffrey Smith was given an exclusive walking tour of the campus on Friday by Mart Green and no ORU topic was off limits.

ORU is getting a major makeover.  It is all thanks to Mart Green.  Green runs the Hobby Lobby franchise.  And, this summer, he donated millions to the school.

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

Some of the money went to pay down the school's debt.  But, the bulk went toward renovations starting with the classrooms.

"It's got the beautiful new seats in them, new carpets, new audio-visual equipment, new sound board," said Mart Green.

And, the work continues to the dorm rooms.

"We took out all the carpets, so this is brand new carpets on the floor, and we also have new electrical plugs.  The fridgerator at the bottom, that you can put your food in, as well as the top part that has the freezer, and then, of course, you've got the microwave," said Mart Green.

"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 ORU President Richard Roberts.  Roberts resigned last year having left the school in financial straits.  Green says he's committed to giving Roberts a severance package that, he says, 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," said Mart Green.

Green says the new era of ORU 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," said Mart Green.

Oral Roberts University last year was more than $55 million in debt.  The ORU Board of Trustees says that debt is now down to $18 million.