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Oral Roberts University or '''ORU''', based in Tulsa , Oklahoma USA , is the largest Charismatic Christian University in the world. The school has an enrollment of over 5,000 students from every state in the US and attracts a significant number of international students. Its undergraduate programs include theology, communication arts, modern languages, behavioral sciences, graphics, and nursing. The university also has a seminary and a graduate business school. STUDENT CODES All students are required to sign a pledge stating they will live according to the university's Honor Code . Prohibited activities include Lying , Cursing , Smoking , Drinking , Gambling , illicit Sexual Acts , and Homosexual behavior. In early 2006 the student Dress Code was greatly relaxed for the first time in forty years. Formerly prohibited clothing items now permitted include Jeans , Sweatshirts , sandals, and Tennis Shoes . UNIQUE ARCHITECTURE Futurist Architecture trims the campus. The Avenue of Flags is the main entrance to Oral Roberts University, and is lined with lighted flags representing more than 60 nations from which ORU students have come. The centerpiece of the Avenue of Flags is the 60 Ft (18.2 M ), 30 Ton Praying Hands, the largest bronze structure in the world. The main campus building, the 900,000 Square Foot (80,000 m²) John D. Messick Learning Resource Center / Marajen Chinigo Graduate Center, is styled after King Solomon's Temple . The 3,500 seat Christ's Chapel is the location of bi-weekly university chapel services and was constructed in a drape-like fashion as an Homage to Oral Roberts' early tent Revivals . In the center of campus is the Prayer Tower , which is said to resemble "an abstract Cross and Crown Of Thorns ." It also houses the campus Visitor Center . The Mabee Center , an arena seating over 11,000 people, is located at the southwestern edge of the campus and is home to basketball games, concerts, church services, and satellite television productions. In 1981 , the City Of Faith Medical And Research Center opened, but it closed in 1989 due to Financial problems and is now rented as Commercial Office space under the name CityPlex . HISTORY Televangelist Oral Roberts founded the institution in 1963 , claiming God had given him the following commissions: :"Build Me a University. Build it on My Authority, and on the Holy Spirit ." and :"Raise up your students to hear my voice, to go where my light is dim, where my voice is heard small, and my healing power is not known, even to the uttermost bounds of the earth. Their work will exceed yours, and in this I am well pleased." The first students enrolled in 1965 . Richard Roberts , Oral Roberts ' son, was named President in 1993 . CONTROVERSY ORU has been criticized as endorsing un Orthodox doctrines about Faith . Critics cite Oral Roberts ' connection with Word Of Faith doctrine and how it has been used for self promotion and justification for materialism by numerous people. Oral Roberts helped pioneer the concept of " Seed Faith ." Coming from a rural farming area, Roberts associated personal acts of God as a result of previous investment into God 's will, like a plant grows from the investment of a seed. Critics claim that this is equivalent to being able to buy a Miracle and makes God into a manipulable party. ATHLETICS Oral Roberts University is a member of the Mid-Continent Conference , and the men's basketball team, coached by Scott Sutton, went to the 2006 NCAA tournament as the #16 seed, but lost in the first round to #1 seeded Memphis . NOTABLE ALUMNI
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