THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Sunday, April 9, 1995 TAG: 9504090051
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B1 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY ESTHER DISKIN, STAFF WRITER
LENGTH: Long : 166 lines
This summer, about 80 students from a university founded by the pastor of the world's largest church, Yoido Full Gospel Church in Seoul, South Korea, will arrive at Regent University to work on graduate degrees in divinity.
By September, Regent plans to offer to Internet users around the globe a chance to earn a doctoral degree in communications and divinity without the bother of coming to campus, except to take final exams.
To Vinson Synan, dean of Regent's Divinity School, the programs are examples of creative education which can boost the school's reputation. But he's not blind to the impact on the bottom line.
``It helps us balance the budget. It blesses them and us, too,'' Synan said. ``We have such a media image. People think money grows on trees at Regent. They think we don't need it.''
Think again. Fund-raising is a growing obsession among leaders at Regent University, which only a few years ago comfortably relied on $6 million a year in gifts from Pat Robertson's Christian Broadcasting Network.
Nearly three years ago, CBN gave the university a $117 million endowment and a shove toward independence. The gift was intended to bring financial security to the evangelical graduate school Robertson founded in 1977.
But Regent's ride to self-sufficiency has been bumpy. A portion of the endowment, which came as investment securities from CBN, was sold for $107.5 million and reinvested in a range of companies.
Those new investments didn't perform as well as the university expected, and Regent borrowed aggressively from its endowment, nearly $9 million last year, to pay for the new law building and computer technology.
In January, the university suddenly put on the brakes: President Terry Lindvall announced layoffs of 10 people, including the chaplain, registrar and vice president for development, as part of a plan to cut annual costs by $1.5 million.
In July, Regent will take another hit, when CBN cuts one of its last direct cash links to the university. It will stop paying about $2 million a year in service fees, which covered electricity, groundskeeping and glossy brochures.
``In the past, they'd send us the bill and forgive it. Now, we'll have to pay it,'' said John E. Mulford, executive vice president for finance and operations. ``In a way, that's good. When you aren't paying, you tend not to be as careful.''
As CBN turns off the cash flow which kept the lights on, Regent is heading toward a turning point which Lindvall considers a test of his leadership. If Regent is to thrive as a graduate school, it must develop a reputation and a sturdy financial base separate from Robertson's other enterprises.
``We are the adolescent child of a very powerful father. He's been generous,'' Lindvall said. ``But every 17-year-old needs to establish his or her own identity. Regent is more than just a child. . . . This is what he is leaving for the 21st century.''
Right now, Lindvall admits, Regent isn't getting the national spotlight like some other Robertson-sponsored causes.
With the Republican victory in Congress, the Christian Coalition soared in its clout and prominence. Lawyers at the American Center for Law and Justice, a nonprofit legal group founded by Robertson, jet around the country sparring in court over high-profile issues like school prayer and abortion.
So Lindvall, too, is taking to the skies, flying coast-to-coast to chat with potential donors at dinners set up by the school's trustees. In the past two months, he has been on the road at least half the time, putting his fabled sense of humor to work as a huckster for his school.
``Hi! How would you like to give a donation to Regent?'' he shouts into his office phone with a huge laugh. ``I have new techniques now - the direct approach! I ask anyone in the street.''
So far, his style has produced some results. In the past month, Lindvall, a former film professor, says he has made an agreement with somebody - he can't release the name yet - to give a $250,000 endowment for film production at Regent's College of Communications and the Arts.
``That was the first big grant I've ever asked for, and I asked for it in the first five minutes of the conversation,'' he said. ``I couldn't believe it.''
Lindvall plans to target several other foundations for grants, and he's trying to find wealthy individuals whose interests in conservative Christian ventures might entice them to support Regent University.
In seeking out individual donors, Regent faces a peculiar challenge. Like other young schools, it doesn't have a large group of alumni to tap for contributions. But it is also cut off from many of the people who might be most likely to give money - those who are already giving to CBN.
The network ministry, protective of its donors, does not share its lists with Regent. And people who already donate to CBN often simply assume that they are giving money to Regent University.
``We're trying to operate as a distinct ministry, with distinct supporters, when the supporters view it as one ministry and don't want to see it as distinct,'' Mulford says.
To build a separate base of donors, the university is using the mass marketing approach, tapping public mailing lists of donors to Christian causes. When U.S. News & World Report came out with a story on successful Christian entrepreneurs, Lindvall decided to approach some of them. And he's looking for friends in all high places, from local businesses to the network of school trustees.
He isn't turning up his nose at anything. Lindvall notes that the College of the Ozarks in Point Lookout, Mo., turned down Wayne Newton's offer of $50,000, because the school, affiliated with the Presbyterian Church, felt his image didn't fit the school.
``OK, we don't have such scruples,'' Lindvall says. ``We're thinking we could have his money and music here.''
Lindvall is also following a traditional method of getting to know potential donors - with a twist. Past presidents of Regent have led CBN-organized tour groups on trips to holy sites.
``They've asked me to lead a tour on the big red boat to the Bahamas and Walt Disney World, which shows what they think of my piety,'' he jokes.
Raising money is turning into a job for everyone. Deans of the individual graduate schools are also being asked to take on some responsibility for innovative fund-raising, mainly through programs designed to attract more students.
When the university finds its students, it will charge them more. Tuition at all schools - except the School of Divinity, which is already at the top end of its market - is expected to rise by about 4 percent this year. The Law School's tuition hike is expected to be as high as 10 percent. Final decisions will be made at the Board of Trustees meeting April 22.
Robertson once envisioned enrollment of 3,000 by the end of the century, but university leaders have scaled back that vision. The university currently has about 1,300 students, and Lindvall and Regent Provost W. George Selig say the campus can't hold more than 2,000 without new buildings, which the school isn't ready to build.
Instead, they are trying to explode into long-distance education, using computer technology to reach Christian learners around the world, many of whom have seen Robertson on TV. The students pay tuition without taking up classroom space.
``I believe distance education is the wave of the future,'' Selig said. ``So many people are place-bound, they can't move their families up here. How better to become a global university than to access that technology?''
The Ph.D. program in communications and divinity, modeled on a long-distance course which is already running at the business school, is one example of the new ventures.
Several schools, including education and divinity, plan to start sending their professors to teach courses at sites away from the campus, from churches to schools. The program with the university founded by David Yonggi Cho, founder and pastor of Yoido Full Gospel Church in Seoul, will send Regent professors to Korea to teach several short-term courses.
The push toward distance education has its dangers, Lindvall says. He doesn't want professors to lose the magic of face-to-face exchanges.
``I think education is a community activity,'' he said. `I don't want to lose that.'' MEMO: HIGHLIGHTS
A brief history of Regent University:
1977: Christian Broadcasting Network University incorporated as a
nonprofit educational institution.
1978: Classes begin with 77 students in rented facilities.
1989: Trustees vote to rename CBN University, which has grown to
nearly 800 students and five colleges, as Regent University. The
American Bar Association grants provision accreditation to the School of
Law.
1991: Pat Robertson, founder of Regent University, announces a
large-scale fund-raising effort designed to end the university's
dependence on CBN's annual donations of $6 million.
1992: Christian Broadcasting Network gives a donation worth $117
million to Regent University, to set up the university's endowment and
replace annual donations from CBN to the university.
July 1995: CBN ends payment for about $2 million in services provided
to Regent University, including electricity, grounds maintenance and
publicity.
ILLUSTRATION: DAVID STERLING photo
In one of Regent University's new programs, students learn without
setting foot on campus.
KEYWORDS: REGENT UNIVERSITY OFF-CAMPUS COURSES DISTANCE EDUCATION by CNB