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OUDAILY
The University of Oklahoma’s independent student voice since 1916
COMING HOME
OU alumnus David Surratt returns to university to serve as dean of students amid racist activity on campus
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hen David Surratt was a student at the University of Oklahoma, he spent his school days cultivating relationships and pouring into a community that was excited to have his leadership. Now, after being away for 15 years, he will return to OU at a time when the university is in need of strong leaders and community builders following racist activity on campus that has deepened rifts in the OU community. At 38, Surratt will be OU’s first new dean of students in nearly two decades. He comes armed with years of university administration experience, most recently from the University of California, B e rke l e y . A n d , f o r t h e s e cond time in his career, he’ll be starting a job at a college campus in the middle of a cultural reckoning. “As somebody who spent 18 years putting my heart and soul into a job to have David come in who is committed to the co-curricular development of our students? I mean, I couldn’t ask
ARCHIEBALD BROWNE • @ARCHIEBALDMOSES for anything more,” said Clarke Stroud, current manager of OU Football Operations and former dean of students. EARLY DAYS AT OU Surratt spent his childhood years in California with his parents: a mother who immigrated from South Korea and an African-American father in the Air Force. By first grade, Surratt’s father was working with American Airlines in Tulsa, where the family settled for good. “Most of my life and my u p b r i n g i n g w a s i n Tu l s a , Oklahoma,” Surratt said. “And so when people ask where I’m from, I always tell them it’s a complicated story. But ultimately I’m from Oklahoma.” While in high school, he knew that it would be important for him to attend college, making him the first of his family to do so. Surratt had baseball offers to different junior colleges, but he made the choice to give up playing baseball and swing for getting a Division I education, Surratt said. Surratt started college at OU
in 1998, majoring in English literature. He was a member of OU’s Black Student Association, joined the Alpha Phi Alpha fraternity and volunteered his time for health education groups and younger students, among other things. “I think it was an overall positive time,” Surratt said. “In terms of my overall experience, I was curious about a lot of different things because when you’re coming into an environment that’s new to you, you’re anxious, you’re open to learning a lot of different things.” Surratt was also a columnist at The Daily, giving his opinions on topics such as civil rights, politics of the day and words of advice for other students. “Remember that when you set personal goals, they do not become static. Things constantly change and many things around you change and it is to be expected,” Surratt wrote during his time as a student in a 2003 op-ed in The Daily. “The key is to not be frightened of it and realize it’s a natural process in our hopes to ultimately be better people — in whatever way you feel defines
David Surratt, bottom middle, poses for a photo with his family as a young child.
PROVIDED BY DAVID SURRATT
you as a better person.” Through his campus involvement, Surratt said he met P ro f e s s o r Em e r i tu s G e o rg e Henderson, who has been at OU since 1967 in a variety of teaching and administrative roles. Today, Henderson is a campus leader, activist and mentor, interacting and guiding students in their studies and lives. The tw o for med a fr iend ship by connecting on informal occasions and shared ideas, Henderson said. Henderson gave advice to Surratt on what he could do to help the campus community, and Henderson was impressed that Surratt engaged, asking questions of him, he said. “I saw growth. I saw his maturity. I saw concern. I saw a willingness to put in, put himself on the line for what he believed. I saw integrity,” Henderson said. When Surratt earned his bachelor’s degree in 2002, he enrolled in the human relations graduate program created by Henderson back in 1969. “He was definitely a figure that influenced me because he taught me something about our very existence being radical and pushing against expectations and norms and forcing people to come to a different place of learning,” Surratt said. Henderson said that Surratt helped other students learn to become constructive activists instead of “just (an) armchair activist” — one who only speculates and talks about what they need to change instead of making it happen, he said. “I remember one day (Surratt) said, ‘I’m beginning to tell people that if things are so bad around here, they’ve got to help us change some of them,’” Henderson said. “I’M ALWAYS GRATEFUL FOR THE STUDENTS” After graduating from OU, Surratt pursued his doctorate in higher education administration at George Washington Un i ve r s i t y . O ve r t h e ye a r s, he has held many positions at various public and private universities. In 2013, amid a lawsuit against the University of California,
Berkeley, for Title IX violations, Surratt was hired as associate dean of students, a position he would hold for the next five years, working closely with student advocacy programs. Surratt struggled to create relationships with the students because they were weary about anyone involved with the school’s administration while the college’s Title IX office was involved in state and federal audits, but they eventually began to trust him, he said. “One of the biggest things that was hard for me was to understand where our survivor activists were coming from and to make sure that we reached out and we express empathy and support for students who were challenging the rest of the university directly,” Surratt said. Dur ing that time, he als o eventually held the position of associate vice chancellor for student affairs, Surratt said. He was tasked with housing and dining services and looked at housing and food insecurity issues. Surratt said his biggest drive while at UC Berkeley was his connections with the students. “That’s something that I do try to take pride in because I feel like if I stopped being able to empathize with what students are experiencing, I feel like I’m not doing my job effectively. And so I’m always grateful for the students,” Surratt said. “I HOPE I CAN STEP UP TO THE CHALLENGE” Surratt’s experience in building relationships with students during times of intense turmoil will be useful as he starts his work at OU. OU’s spring 2019 semester began with two blackface incidents on campus, one student in a widely circulated video and another unknown person walking near campus, prompting marches, protests and calls for the university’s new administration to crack down on systemic racism at the university. “Someone of AfricanAmerican and Korean-American sect coming into this role at this See SURRATT page 2