Oral Roberts University history

At the university's dedication ceremony in 1967, the evangelist Billy Graham was the keynote speaker.

ORU was accredited in 1971 by the Higher Learning Commission of the North Central Association of Colleges and Schools.

The Mabee Center, housing performing arts facilities and an indoor sports arena, was completed in 1972.

In 1978 Roberts began building the City of Faith Medical and Research Center in Tulsa, despite opposition from the region’s established medical community, which regarded another such facility there as unnecessary.

The O. W. Coburn School of Law opened in 1979.

In 1986 the university "shut down its ailing law school and sent its library to Pat Robertson's Bible-based college in Virginia", which subsequently founded the Regent University School of Law.

The centre struggled financially, and in January 1987 Roberts made a widely ridiculed televised appeal that tied his life to a $4.5 million fundraising goal: “I’m asking you to help extend my life.

Tulsa (Oklahoma) World, 26 August 1990.

In January 1996, Golden Eagle Broadcasting, a small digital satellite Christian and family programming television network owned and operated by Oral Roberts University, was founded.

On February 7, 1997, the Islamic Society of Tulsa received a formal apology from Reverend Bill Shuler, who led religious services on campus.

In the 2004–05 academic year ORU enrolled 4,240 students, representing all fifty states and sixty-two foreign nations.

On October 17, 2007, Richard Roberts announced a "temporary leave of absence" as president of the university, citing the "toll" the lawsuit and attendant allegations had taken on him and his family.

On January 10, 2008, ORU settled with plaintiff John Swails, who was reinstated to his previous teaching position.

In January 2009, the university's presidential search committee recommended Mark Rutland, President of Southeastern University of the Assemblies of God in Florida, to succeed Richard Roberts, which the trustees approved.

ORU was also ranked as one of 123 institutions in the 2012 “Best in the West” regional list produced by The Princeton Review.

On January 31, 2013, ORU announced that William "Billy" Wilson, executive director of the International Center for Spiritual Renewal and vice-chair of the ORU board of trustees, had been selected to succeed Rutland as president, effective July 1, 2013.

ORU was granted an exception to Title IX in 2017 which allows it to legally discriminate against LGBT students for religious reasons.

ORU and G12 Vision announced in 2019 they had reached an agreement over a partnership.

ORU moved to virtual classes for the remainder of the 2020 spring semester after the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic in the United States.