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Protesters march down the South Oval after the 2019 racist incidents. Quote by Belinda Higgs Hyppolite.
CULTURE
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Marching forward: 1 year later After multiple racist incidents in 2019, university’s diversity leaders reflect on months of continued progress, acknowledge work left to do
On Sept. 22, 2019, Belinda Higgs Hyppolite traveled to OU’s Norman campus to interview for a position which, in the past year, had become one of the most important — and equally challenging — titles at the university. The potential difficulty was no deterrent for Higgs Hyppolite, who had worked in higher education for more than 24 years, including 15 as the assistant vice president for community support at the University of Central Florida, where she said she was called on to deal with the race and diversity issues which had plagued OU for the past year. O n t h e s a m e d ay Hi g g s Hyppolite was hoping to convince OU administrators she was the one to lead a revamped commitment to diversity on campus, OU was given another sobering reminder of how much work still needed to be done. “There was actually a blackface incident the day I came to campus,” said Higgs Hyppolite, OU’s new vice president for diversity and inclusion. “It came up in every interview, and I was just like, ‘Wow.’” The incident was reported by the Black Emergency Response Team on Sept. 22 after they became aware of a photo posted to an OU student’s social media. The photo depicted the student wearing a black charcoal face mask, with the caption “another day, another case.” BERT called out the post as another instance of blackface. Almost one year ago this week, the OU community faced two instances of blackface on campus. Students began to demand action, gathering for marches across campus and to the steps of Evans Hall, as well as rallies demanding varied administrative responses and an evaluation of how racism was handled on campus. One year later, OU is only days away from opening a new office for diversity and inclusion at OU. Despite the challenges of the last year, many see recent changes as steps in the right direction — but there are still challenges ahead.
REFLECTING ON THE PAST Despite the recent frequency of public racist incidents, Higgs Hyppolite said the incidents at OU do not necessarily indicate a university in crisis or make OU unique from other campuses. “There are racial incidents that occur on college campuses across the country, so OU is not unique in having to deal with challenges around culture, whether it be political ideology, world views, things of that nature,” Higgs Hyppolite said. “College campuses and higher ed institutions directly mimic what’s happening in the real world, so of course, some of those issues that would occur in the world will land squarely on our campuses.” Higgs Hyppolite said one of her priorities is to avoid a reactionary response to incidents involving race or other sensitive topics and to instead take a measured, educational approach to responding while advocating for the affected communities. Racist incidents are going to happen on a college campus, Higgs Hyppolite said — much like in other places across the country — but she hopes to use potential sources of outrage as learning opportunities for the offender, adding that many times a person’s intent does not match the impact their words or actions might have. “I think that redemption has to be a part of this work as well. I don’t want somebody to call me out and embarrassing me, so how then do I not do that to other people?” Higgs Hyppolite said. “Part of the campaign that I talked about, and my philosophy as I was interviewing for this position, was to really work from three points about awareness, education and advocacy.” OU Black Student Association president Breanna Hervey said she does not necessarily want to see someone expelled from the university immediately when involved in one of these incidents, seeing it as an educational opportunity like Higgs Hyppolite. But Hervey also said it is important that the university respond appropriately as a
reassurance to underrepresented communities that the behavior will not be tolerated. In the spring of 2019, BSA and other student leaders met with former OU President James Gallogly’s administration after what they saw as an insufficient response to the Jan. 18 blackface incident, but Hervey said the meetings often left them feeling frustrated with a lack of real progress. “(Gallogly) didn’t want to call the first blackface incident racist, and that was frustrating for our community because this is the president of our university sitting here to our face telling us, ‘This isn’t racism, we won’t call it that,’” Hervey said. “I do think President Gallogly was afraid of the backlash that he would get if he did say that ... but President Harroz was like, ‘I’m not scared to do that. I’m not scared to call out what I see.’” Her ve y appre ciate d the strength of interim OU President Joseph Harroz’s response to this incident compared to Gallogly’s statements in the spring, and Harroz’s willingness to engage with BSA members who are not executives. “The way that (the Sept. 22 incident) was handled was so much different from the first — not to slight anybody from the previous administration,” Hervey said. “(Harroz and Dean of Students David Surratt) made sure they came to our meetings, they talked to us about what we’d like to see change, talked to our students — which is really important because in the past, a lot of (administrators) had been just wanting to speak to the executive board.” George Henderson, OU professor emeritus and civil rights activist and researcher, said he is less concerned with the university’s response and more focused on actions being taken in the immediate aftermath of these incidents. Henderson has worked at OU for over 50 years since moving to Norman in 1967. Henderson also helped establish OU’s human relations department in 1970 and conducted decades of research into civil rights activism and higher
education. “I’m less interested in the response than I am the follow-through ... PR folks are paid to send something to news media,” Henderson said. “I want to know, now that you’ve sent it, what have you done? While we’re waiting for the surveys and reorganization to occur, lives are in the balance. Every president should be able to say, ‘Since that news release, this is what we’ve done.’” ADDRESSING THE PRESENT The university has communicated its willingness to review how it handles racism and improve overall campus diversity from the highest levels in the past year. When Harroz was selected in May 2019, he made early statements highlighting diversity and inclusion as his top priority. “One of the questions I was asked was this question of, ‘Is there a crisis around race?’ Diversity at large (also), but certainly race and ethnicity,” Harroz told The Daily in December. “We were in a serious moment, a moment we had to really think about — and not just think, but really directly address the challenges that we’re facing.” Harroz said he immediately prioritized diversity and inclusion after his selection, and he worked to avoid another “big crisis” following the string of racist incidents in the spring of 2019. Hervey said she has seen a major positive change in OU’s approach to diversity on campus since Harroz’s selection, praising his apparent commitment to expanding the Office of Diversity and Inclusion and other goals of the university’s diversity plan, which entered its second phase in August 2019 after Gallogly announced it in March 2019. The plan includes goals to recruit and retain a more diverse faculty, which was one of BSA’s demands after the January 2019 blackface incident. Part of the university’s diversity plan has been expanding the Office of Diversity and
Inclusion from “a handful” of employees to having diversity liaisons working with every college on campus, which Harroz said now numbers around 40 employees with roles in the office. Higgs Hyppolite has expressed a desire to adjust aspects of OU’s curriculum around diversity issues, which was also on the list submitted last January. “I do think it’s important for students to see themselves in the curriculum, to see folks who look and resemble them in the classroom. It just makes for a more pleasurable experience,” Higgs Hyppolite said. “There’s nothing more uncomfortable than walking into a space, and you’re the only one (like yourself ) — and throughout my educational experience and professional career, I’ve often walked into those spaces and experienced that.” Hervey said Higgs Hyppolite’s hiring is one of many examples she sees of Harroz making a more honest attempt to address some of BSA’s previous demands compared to other administrations. LOOKING TOWARD THE FUTURE Opinions are split on how far the university has come in addressing the underlying problems that motivate racist behavior since then. “If we’re still talking about it, we haven’t moved very far,” Henderson said. “We’re (just) as divisive now, in terms of separate communities, because we’ve been pandered to in order to allow us to have these separate safe places. I see no plan of bringing us together.” While Henderson said he does not believe OU has come as far as others may say, he did praise the work of student organizations like BERT for reclaiming responsibility for changing the culture around diversity issues on campus. “Instead of the faculty and staff calling the meetings, chairing the meetings and being the keynote speakers, let’s have the see ONE YEAR LATER page 2