Most of you will remember another high-profile crisis involving racism that happened at OU in 1994.
Members of Phi Kappa Psi desecrated (beat on & pissed on) a Kiowa tepee display on campus during American Indian Heritage Week.
Tribal leaders and Native American students stated their outrage to the press and to the OU administration. It was a huge mess that received national media coverage. The university apologized. There was no video, there were no lynch-mob references, but there were several Native American witnesses who thought they were being assaulted that night. They were in the tepee when it happened.
The frats admitted guilt. I don't believe that any of them were shown the door and Phi Kappa Psi remained open. That really upset tribal leaders and students, which some went on a hunger strike in protest. Eventually through dialog and closed door meetings, both sides worked together to address grievances. The issue faded away in the public eye. But racism never goes away. I think it was a couple of years later, another tepee was slit with a knife.
Later that year in 1994 when David Boren took over as president, he announced that Phi Kappa Psi was to close for the following Spring semester because of another out-of-control incident involving the accidental death of a frat member getting conked on the head by a flag pole. Frat boys do (and say) really stupid things.
Unlike the SAE fiasco of 2015, the 1994 Phi Kappa Psi incident was never morphed into a athletics-related issue. Nor were people of faith somehow blamed like some tried to do in another thread. That is just axe-grinding and nothing more.
I believe just like the 1994 incident, this SAE incident will eventually fade in the public eye (only the activists will remember). Racism will live on in all races. That is the lower nature of man. Most Americans have short memories. They're generally apathetic and are far more concerned about themselves and their own lives.
The crux of my post was underlined above.
Members of Phi Kappa Psi desecrated (beat on & pissed on) a Kiowa tepee display on campus during American Indian Heritage Week.
Tribal leaders and Native American students stated their outrage to the press and to the OU administration. It was a huge mess that received national media coverage. The university apologized. There was no video, there were no lynch-mob references, but there were several Native American witnesses who thought they were being assaulted that night. They were in the tepee when it happened.
The frats admitted guilt. I don't believe that any of them were shown the door and Phi Kappa Psi remained open. That really upset tribal leaders and students, which some went on a hunger strike in protest. Eventually through dialog and closed door meetings, both sides worked together to address grievances. The issue faded away in the public eye. But racism never goes away. I think it was a couple of years later, another tepee was slit with a knife.
Later that year in 1994 when David Boren took over as president, he announced that Phi Kappa Psi was to close for the following Spring semester because of another out-of-control incident involving the accidental death of a frat member getting conked on the head by a flag pole. Frat boys do (and say) really stupid things.
Unlike the SAE fiasco of 2015, the 1994 Phi Kappa Psi incident was never morphed into a athletics-related issue. Nor were people of faith somehow blamed like some tried to do in another thread. That is just axe-grinding and nothing more.
I believe just like the 1994 incident, this SAE incident will eventually fade in the public eye (only the activists will remember). Racism will live on in all races. That is the lower nature of man. Most Americans have short memories. They're generally apathetic and are far more concerned about themselves and their own lives.
The crux of my post was underlined above.
