[11] Four buildings are original from St. Viator College, including Burke Administration, Chapman Hall, Miller Business Center, and Birchard Gymnasium.

In addition, within the past two years,[needs update] there have been numerous construction projects including the construction of the Betty and Kenneth Hawkins Centennial Chapel, the largest theater in Kankakee County, which seats approximately 3,059 people, and the Student Life and Recreation Center, which opened in December 2012.

This building serves as central hub for the campus and features an Olympic-sized pool, Jacuzzi, lazy river, resistance pool, indoor track, one of the tallest collegiate rock climbing walls in North America, various classrooms, offices, a fitness center, game room and coffee shop.

Each college or university is also bound by a gentlemen's agreement not to actively recruit outside its respective "educational region.

"[17] ONU has been accredited by the Higher Learning Commission since 1956[12] and offers bachelor's degrees in 67 academic majors.

They are also a member of the National Christian College Athletic Association (NCCAA), primarily competing as an independent in the North Central Region of the Division I level.

The Tigers previously competed in the Northern Illinois-Iowa Conference (NIIC) of the NCAA Division III ranks from 1974–75 to 1995–96; while also becoming a founding member of the Mid-States Football Association (MSFA) in the 1994 fall season (football-only).

Although the Bears had an agreement to continue practicing at the university through 2022, they moved the camp to Halas Hall for the 2020 season.

[22][23] In 2007, President John C. Bowling prohibited ONU alumnus and faculty member Richard G. Colling from teaching the general education biology course which he had taught since 1991.

[24] President Bowling banned professors from assigning Colling's 2004 book: Random Designer: Created from Chaos to Connect with the Creator (Browning Press: ISBN 0-9753904-0-6)[24] In the book, Colling argued that "'evolution has stood the test of time and considerable scrutiny,' and that evolution through random mutation and natural selection is 'fully compatible with' faith.

"[25] The 2005-2009 Manual included an additional paragraph that was removed in 2009: "[T]he church accepts as valid all scientifically verifiable discoveries in geology and other natural phenomena, for we firmly believe that God is the Creator.

"[26] In a chapel message delivered 11 January 2006, President Bowling stated: "The Christian faith and some understandings of evolution are not necessarily incompatible.

We think that the theory of evolution can be seen as a scientific explanation of the diversity of life on earth, rather than as a godless religion that denies God's hand in the processes of creation.

"[24] In 2009, the conclusion of an American Association of University Professors (AAUP) investigation[29] found problems with shared governance at ONU and that Colling's rights had been violated[30] when Bowling placed the concerns of the more conservative members of its Nazarene constituency higher than its principles of academic freedom.

That same month, Mike Haley, a motivational speaker and self-proclaimed reformed homosexual, spoke to students during the school's mandatory Chapel.

[35] According to The Daily Journal "[t]his prompted a small group of students at Olivet to petition for tolerance and an open discussion about homosexuality.

"[35] On June 28, 2019, the university rescinded its job offer of assistant professor to academic and author T. J. Martinson (Ph.D. IU Bloomington, The Reign of the Kingfisher), a third-generation Olivet alumnus, "citing complaints that his novel contained profanity and other elements [including the depiction of prostitution and the portrayal of a lesbian character] that conflict with the school's religious doctrine".

[36] On July 26, 2019, PEN America released a statement on the controversy: "A professor's dismissal on the basis of a work of fiction suggests a disturbing climate for open inquiry and creative expression at [Olivet Nazarene University].

In this case, dismissing Martinson over the content of his novel, including the presence of a lesbian character, sends a message of exclusion to the ONU community and is likely to have a chilling effect on the free and creative expression of students and faculty.