Oklahoma’s President Urges Angry Crowd to Help Him Fix ‘Shameful Moment’

The University of Oklahoma’s repeated struggles with racist student behavior were on full display Tuesday during a tense campus rally, as minority students demanded more action from administrators, and a former dean called for the university president to resign.

Emotions ran high as students and faculty and staff members crowded into a campus hall to express anger and frustration at the latest racist incident — a Snapchat video of a student in blackface appearing to use a racial slur.

To some it was a bitter reminder of a 2015 video that also went viral, shaking the university and tarnishing its reputation. In that video, which evoked images of lynching, Sigma Alpha Epsilon fraternity members laughed and sang about how they’d never allow a black student to join their chapter.

Much of the anger on Tuesday was directed at Oklahoma’s president, James L. Gallogly, a former oil executive who took office in July, after regents recruited him to help make the university more financially sustainable.

After listening to speakers question the administration’s commitment to diversity, the president took the floor to plead with the audience to work with him in making the campus a more inclusive, welcoming environment for all students.

The problems, he agreed, go beyond the actions of a few individuals.

“This is a shameful moment in our history that keeps reoccurring,” Gallogly said. “It is our moment of truth, and we have to do something about it. I will be held accountable. I don’t just want your criticism. I want your help. Pointing fingers and making demands doesn’t get the job done.”

The students who spoke at the rally said they were tired of waiting, particularly because some of the promises that administrators made after the 2015 incident were not fulfilled.

One of the protesting groups, the Black Student Association, issued a list of demands that includes zero tolerance for hate speech, more support for African-American academic programs, and more multicultural faculty and staff members.

On Monday, Gallogly held a news conference to denounce the Snapchat video, which surfaced on Friday and quickly became national news. But the president also cited legal limitations that prevented him from expelling the students responsible. The two students identified, he said, had voluntarily agreed to leave the university and expressed “deep regret” for their actions. The university is investigating the possible involvement of a third student.

Among his goals, Gallogly said, was recruiting more minority faculty members and students, improving diversity training, and making the student code of conduct as rigorous as possible to address inequality and racism.

Critics who accused Gallogly of not doing enough have compared his response with that of his predecessor, David Boren, who, in 2015, announced that he was expelling the two students and kicking the fraternity off campus.

Last week’s incident is different in a few respects, Gallogly pointed out. It happened off campus, at a private residence, and it didn’t involve the sorority the students belonged to, Delta Delta Delta.

The 2015 fraternity incident, in referring to lynching, also included a threat that could reasonably make a student fearful for his or her safety, a university lawyer pointed out.

That incident prompted the university to create an Office of University Community, led by Jabar Shumate, a former state senator and student activist at Oklahoma.

Shumate, who served as a vice president overseeing that office for three years, was forced out after being accused of improperly using a state vehicle for personal reasons. He denied that charge, saying the real reason he was forced to resign was his objection to the possibility that the administration was going to let the disgraced fraternity return to campus.

Shumate could not be reached on Tuesday for comment. The university offered a different narrative at the time, releasing a statement saying that Shumate had resigned after being confronted with the findings of an audit that “revealed a significant misuse of university assets.”

University officials and the SAE national organization have denied that the chapter’s return is in the works, but email records obtained by The Chronicle show that Gallogly wrote to an unidentified donor on his first day as president, in July: “I know this has been a painful experience for so many but perhaps we can all find a healing way to resolve this matter where everyone is pleased with the outcome. We prevent future similar incidents by not forgetting the event and learning from it but at some point there must be forgiveness as well.”

‘You Need to Call Them Out’

During Tuesday’s rally, students from multiple ethnic groups tweeted under the hashtag #BetterTogether and urged their peers to express solidarity. For more than two hours, students stepped up to denounce recurring acts of racism.

“As a black student, words don’t matter,” one student said. “This has happened in the past, and it’s happening again. When a year goes by and nothing happens” she turned to the president — “please understand that I’ll be asking for your resignation.” The crowd cheered.

Another student urged white students and faculty members to do more. “Too often the burden is placed on faculty, students, and staff of color,” he said. “The work starts with you. When you’re sitting at your table eating your avocado toast and you hear about these incidents, you need to call them out.”

Suzette Grillot, who was removed from her position as dean of international studies last week, used her time at the microphone to blast the president’s deep cuts to her department, which will close its study-abroad center in Brazil.

Grillot, who announced her removal on Twitter, had tried and failed to convince Gallogly that study centers in Latin America were a worthwhile investment, benefiting Oklahoma students and leading to an increase in students from Brazil and Mexico.

Email records show that Gallogly asked the dean in July: “Why do we need to source students from Brazil and Mexico given strong demand that we already have?”

In her concluding remarks, former Dean CIS Suzette Grillot asks for @OU14Pres resignation. pic.twitter.com/deG4HfEXDd

— jerickahandie (@JerickaHandie) January 22, 2019

At Tuesday’s rally, Grillot read Gallogly’s email to the crowd.

“If I have to explain why we need a diverse student body to a president of a public institution of higher education, then I think we all know what kind of leader we have,” she said to applause. “And what kind of trouble we’re in.”

Things grew more combative from there.

“I’m not going to be as kind as the people who asked for your resignation a year from now,” she told Gallogly during her remarks. “I’m going to ... ask for it now,” she added, inserting an expletive.

Quoting Martin Luther King Jr.

Gallogly was next to speak, and he started by firing back at Grillot. One of the first things he did as president, he said, was ask the university’s deans to explain what steps they were taking to increase diversity.

“One dean wrote back, ‘I’m too busy. I don’t have time for that,’” Gallogly said. “She just asked me to resign.”

From there, Gallogly shifted to address students who, he said, had leveled unfair accusations against him, blaming him for racist incidents that pained him as much as it did them. He acknowledged that he experienced the insults differently than would a person of color who is accustomed to frequent slights.

At times, Gallogly’s voice shook with emotion as he urged the crowd to work with him, not against him. Quoting Martin Luther King Jr., Gallogly asked the crowd to remember that “darkness cannot drive out darkness; only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate; only love can do that.”

The president said that over the previous few days, he had sought the advice of George Henderson, a professor emeritus of human relations and the third black professor hired by Oklahoma, in 1967. Henderson had urged him not to expel the Snapchat-video students, he said.

In an interview on Tuesday, Henderson said he believed that the president was committed to change and was taking the right steps to hold his administration accountable for the goals he had announced. Expelling students for expressing offensive views, particularly on social media, isn’t the answer, Henderson said.

“I want to give him a chance,” said Henderson, the son of Alabama sharecroppers and the author of a memoir about his experiences at Oklahoma. “I was involved in the civil-rights movement, and we wanted to communicate with people and not excommunicate them when they did terrible things. If we throw people out, we miss the opportunity to teach them.”

Former President Boren’s decision to create an Office of University Community in2015 was well intentioned but didn’t work, Henderson said. “The vice president for university community was not held accountable and didn’t have a plan and procedure for getting things done,” he said.

Rather than limiting responsibility for improving race relations to one office, Henderson said, all administrators should be held responsible — the provost for how deans perform, and the deans for how department chairs fulfill those goals. Henderson said the university should also do a better job of making sure all students of color, not just black students, feel supported.

For Gallogly, healing the university’s racial divisions represents the biggest public challenge he’s faced in his first year as president. Grillot, the former dean, told The Chronicle she is skeptical that he is up to the task.

“I have very little confidence in his ability to handle this moment,” she said.

The president urged Tuesday’s crowd to give him a chance.

“I love each one of you,” he said, voice cracking. “I’m happy to look you in the eye and tell you that. That’s why I’m here, and that’s the only reason we’re here. We are better than this moment. Let’s prove it.”

Katherine Mangan writes about community colleges, completion efforts, and job training, as well as other topics in daily news. Follow her on Twitter @KatherineMangan, or email her at katherine.mangan@chronicle.com.

Michael Vasquez is a senior investigative reporter. Follow him on Twitter @MrMikeVasquez, or email him at michael.vasquez@chronicle.com.