Oral Roberts University

Date: Nov 03 2004
Major: Music - Composition/Theory (This Major's Salary over time)
Oral Roberts University is a joke of an academic institution. The student newspaper is like Soviet-era propaganda, and this school does not allow the students to voice dissent. The students have no voice at this school whatsoever. They continue to raise tuition, but yet they cut scholarships, resources, and even faculty. The students at this school are brainwashed through propaganda that is pushed mainly through chapel. They truly believe that it is wrong to disagree with this school. I cannot believe that so many students feel priviledged to pay absurd amounts of tuition, while simultaneously not being respected in the least bit concerning how they fell about the state of the university. This school is very fake, and they constantly glaze over all the enormous problems they are having. Not only that, but Richard made a false claim in chapel last spring during one of the last weeks of chapel. He claimed that a tornado was heading for our school, but it lifted up over ORU, and then touched back down after it had passed us. I reality, this tornado never so much as passed the bridge from Jenks to South Tulsa, which is approximately 2 miles from the school. The tornado shortly died out after making its way through the western parts of Jenks. But that is only according to the NOAA and local meteorologists… and what do they know anyways.. they're probably not ecven spirit-filled!

Richard Roberts lied about his relationship with Lindsay Roberts in a Spring 2003 revival session in which he said "Lindsay and I saved ourselves for each other." He was claiming that they had remained abstinent until their marriage, despite the fact that he had children with his first wife Patti. You will never hear mention of her name or the names of their children either. They grossly mishandle the money that they do have, using alot of money from the school to fund their ministry. They enforce ridiculous rules such as dress code and curfew, which I guess are supposed to teach us responsibility… but how does that makes sense? It is completely illogical and backwards to think that alleviating an individual of the opportunity to do something "wrong" or "irresponsible" teaches them how to be responsible. On the contrary, until we learn the hard lessons of the consequences of our actions ourselves, we will never truly learn them.

This school teaches students how to be good little servile drones, which makes it look pretty good to older businessmen and families who come here and are "so impressed" to see that we are so under control (i.e. sedated and censored). People who want to do things that the adminstration sees as wrong (such as drinking) will find a way to do them, regardless of curfew. So who does curfew really hurt? I propose that it most affects those students that do not plan on doing such things in the first place, the good, law-abiding type students who wish to stay out of trouble. So essentially, this school punishes the students who are already doing what the school believes is right. They cannot go to Wal-Mart late at night to get a snack, no… they have to buy something from the over-priced vending machine. This is entirely aside from the fact that for years, girls had curfew while guys had none. Now that guys do have a curfew, theirs is a half hour later than the girls'. This is ridiculously sexist, and I do not see how this can be Christian? Would Jesus approve.. I think not.

Perhaps ORU thinks that this is a good way to teach us how to engage our democratic republic; by believing everything you are told and never disagreeing, no matter what the reality of a situation is. This is not even close to what our forefathers had in mind for this country, but ORU pushes its doctrine that we should never question our government (as long as a Republican is in office that is). This brings up another point. If you are a liberal, people will treat you like you are evil and/or demon possesed. The theology of this school is heresy. which is funny, as it pretends to be a great Christian university. But with chapel speakers such as Dr. Frank Hultgrin, Jesse Duplantis, Kenneth Copeland and many other heretics, this school does not even have much respect amongst orthodox Christians. I am offended by the terrible doctrine that passes through chapel, so I skip alot, which eventually incurs a $50 fine, but it is worth it to me, because I really hate chapel.

Another terrible thing about this school is that it is almost impossible to live off-campus unless you are married, part-time, or over 25. Their cafeteria food is terrible, the dorms are in the worst shape, with the elevators getting stuck on a regular basis. ORU security is most likely the least respected group on campus. They write tickets like crazy, treat visitors like crap by not allowing them access to the upper or lower lots (unless of course they are rich parents who have donated alot of money to the school), and are constantly more of a nuisance to students than they are a help. Don't even get me started on academics, as I went to a real university my first year, so I know what college course work should be like, and ORU is more like high school than college. Most of the classes do not involve critical thinking, instead they focus on multiple choice exams. The standards for written essays and critiques are lower than what was expected of me in my honors classes in high school. Overall, I feel that the coursework here is not challenging at all, and does not adequately prepare a student for graduate school, unless they go on to ORU's grad programs.

I do have one good thing to say about this school, and that is that I think the music department is awesome. I can express my disagreement with the school's policies with them, and they are sympathetic and many times agree with me. They truly care about their students, and really love what they do. Not only that, but the music technology program beats the pants off of many other music tech programs that I have been involved with. Unfortunately, their hands are tied about many issues such as making course work more challenging, and mainly funding. To any students considering this school, please think again. I am going to have to work very hard to get into grad school, and I will be in a great amount of debt. I would transfer, but it is too late into my studies to do so. I can also thank ORU for helping me to realize what I truly value. I came into this school as a good conservative charismatic Christian, and will leave as a socialist non-Charismatic, critical thinking Christian. I owe this to the blatant hypocrisies and extreme ignorance at this school that drove me to question why I believed the things I did.