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The next generation of us
Photo illustration by Rachel Lobaugh
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school days, his babysitter’s boyfriend worked at Skateland, so Guthrie found himself there most days, he said. While not an avid skater as a teenager, Guthrie wound up at a church event hosted at Skateland a few years later in high school.
“That’s where I actually met my first real girlfriend,” Guthrie said.
Memories of Skateland exist against the soundtrack of the “Hokey Pokey” and “Telstar” by The Ventures for Guthrie, along with the fizzy taste of a “suicide” — a concoction of every soda syrup the rink served, he said.
Tony Hughes, a 1984 OU alumnus, started skating in high school before he moved to Norman for school in 1979. Hughes skated at the Norman rink and worked there as a floor guard.
“I always left with a smile, and it was pretty good exercise due to the footwork,” Hughes said in an email to The Daily.
Hughes learned to skate after a first date took a turn for the worse when he was 16.
“I was doing OK until we decided to get drinks at the concession. I told the girl to go find a seat, and I would bring over the colas. Needless to say, but I did not make it to the table with the drinks,” Hughes said. “Yep, on the floor with the colas all over me. I decided right then that that would never happen again and started going back just about every week to learn how to skate.”
Hughes said there are two key steps to being a good skater, which he learned in his self-taught skating journey.
“First, get your own skates that fit well, have good wheels and have the trucks loosened to your abilities. … Second, learn how to fall without hurting yourself, usually by rolling. Once you lose the fear of falling, you hardly ever fall,” Hughes said.
Later, in 1992, Hughes brought his girlfriend at the time to the rink where his favorite memories of Skateland were made.
“She was pretty good, and we would act out the Meatloaf song, ‘Paradise by the Dashboard Light.’ Among other things, we would sing the male and female lyrics to each other ...,” Hughes said.
Younger Normanites are also losing a classic Norman establishment that served as a birthday party favorite, greek event location and general hang-out spot.
Political science junior Becca Yanez met her middle school trio of friends at Star Skate.
Yañez said memories of Star Skate include childhood birthday parties, couples’ skate in middle school, her “death
grip” on the walls of the rink and her friends trying to teach her how to skate.
“There have been several accounts of me just falling and embarrassing myself publicly,” Yañez said.
For Yañez, Star Skate represented a piece of Norman’s identity —, a piece that the town has now lost.
“I think that without it, it’s just not going to be the same. It’s just another thing that made Norman, Norman,” Yañez said.
The hope right now, Hale said, is that after the economy recovers from the pandemic, he can open another rink in Norman. Until then, the city is losing a ubiquitous establishment in the town’s collective memory.
“You’d have to be older than 60, basi- cally, to remember a time before the rink was there,” Hale said. “Everybody’s losing something. … It’s not just me that’s losing a business, but it’s the community as a whole. … A part of their life will not be a part of their life anymore.”
Photo by Trey Young
THE NEXT GENERATION OF US BY BLAKE DOUGLAS BERT sit-in, one year later
The eyes of the OU community were OU. locked intensely on Evans Hall rough- “They apparently had read extenly a year ago when the culmination of sively about what the students did in several semesters of racist incidents on the 1960s and the strategies growing campus finally arrived. out of that,” Henderson said. “They
On Feb. 26, 2020, members of OU’s took that blueprint and ran with it Black Emergency Response Team gath- quite well. When (previous civil rights ered on the steps of Evans Hall to deliv- demonstrations) started, it was primarer a simple ultimatum — “meet our ily Black people, let’s be honest — this demands or starve us of our freedom.” time, just going through Evans Hall and After two professors in two weeks used seeing the individuals sitting in the proa racial slur in class — once when a pro- vost’s office, it looked like a little United fessor compared the word to the phrase Nations. That was beautiful.” “OK, Boomer” and again when the slur Despite the diversity of support and was used repeatedly while reading the knowledge of civil rights experts the from a historical document — BERT sit-in was launched from, BERT leadleadership decided on a higher-profile ership presented lofty demands — inresponse than previous press confer- cluding the resignation of Kyle Harper, ences and marches. then-provost and senior vice president.
“It was necessary for us to do some- Henderson said despite the thing different,” Miles Francisco, OU high-profile demands, he urged the stugraduate and former BERT co-director dents to remain focused on their goals said. regardless of the pushback they may re-
Francisco was one of several BERT ceive from the administration. members who participated in a hunger “They looked at me and I gave a strike in addition to the sit-in. The “anx- thumbs up, I said, ‘Hold your ground. iety-inducing” first moments of walk- Whatever it takes, hold your ground. ing into Evans Hall were fueled only by And by all means, have a clear chain of the Slim Chickens meal he’d had the responsibilities,’” Henderson said. “For night before. Destinee Dickson, also an me, that was the culmination of 50-plus OU graduate and former BERT mem- years (of civil rights experience).” ber, marched into Evans Hall powered One year after the BERT sit-in, some by a Crossroads dinner the night be- of the demands have morphed, while fore. Neither would break their hunger others have been implemented outstrike until the sit-in ended at 4:30 p.m. right. Some previous BERT members, Feb. 29. like Francisco and Dickson, expressed
“I didn’t have any breakfast that their frustration at the “watering down” morning,” Francisco said. “I was too of sit-in demands. Current BERT memnervous.” bers, like co-directors Jamelia Reed and
Dickson and Francisco each said the D’India Brown, maintain a level of trust nerves of the moment began to subside in OU’s current administration to see when what began as roughly 40 protest- their demands through. ers at the sit-in’s 8 a.m. kickoff grew to What exactly has changed at OU in over 100 students, a crowd that occu- the wake of Evans Hall’s three-day ocpied all three floors and the basement cupation? Which of BERT’s original of Evans Hall. demands and its recently released final
The historical moment wasn’t alto- demands will the OU community see gether unprecedented at OU, but it did come to fruition? boast one key difference from previous racial justice demonstrations. George Henderson, OU professor emeritus, civil rights scholar and founder of OU’s human relations department, human relations department, said the diversity of support said the diversity of support the sit-in garnered was the sit-in garnered was unlike anything he’d unlike anything he’d seen prior in his seen prior in his 60 years at 60 years at
#HARPERHASTOGO
While Harper did not leave his position immediately following the conclusion of the sit-in, the demonstrators’ top demand was eventually fulfilled when he exited the provost position July 1 to return to teaching. Harper then took sabbatical leave — which will end June
30, 2021 — with his full pay of $329,086.
During Harper’s tenure, community members voiced grievances on his silence in the face of repeated racist incidents on campus during his tenure. Leading up to the sit-in, though his office did comment after OU history professor Kathleen Brosnan repeatedly used the N-word in her classroom while reading a document, Harper did not comment after Peter Gade, director of graduate studies for the Gaylord College of Journalism and Mass Communication and Gaylord Family endowed chair, used the word a week prior.
In a social media graphic shared by BERT, circulated through the hashtag #HarperHasToGo, the group lamented Harper’s lack of engagement with previous demands made to focus on retention of Black students and faculty. Other students and faculty came forward with their own criticisms of Harper, including his alleged acceptance of a resignation letter from a faculty member accused of raping a student during a study abroad trip before a Title IX investigation was completed, and pre-hiring concerns about his commitment to diversity and inclusion initiatives.
During the sit-in, documents from the 2015 conclusion of the senior vice president and provost search which ended in Harper’s hiring were shared on social media. In the documents, the co-chairs of the search — Suzette Grillot, international area studies professor and former dean of the international area studies college, and Berrien Moore, dean of the College of Atmospheric & Geographic sciences — evaluated the three finalists for the position, which Harper had been filling as an interim.
“(Harper) is occasionally perceived as being evasive and not always direct when answering specific questions of academic importance or when asked to outline solutions to specific problems,” the evaluation of Harper’s weaknesses read. “(Harper) is seen by some to make decisions without full information and without consultation with relevant stakeholders. This is likely an issue of experience. There also remain concerns by a few about (Harper’s) commitment to diversity issues of equity.”
Since Harper’s departure, current interim Provost and Senior Vice President Jill Irvine has filled the role. Reed and Brown said they were encouraged when they discovered Irvine would become interim due to her background in social movements and women’s and gender studies.
Although OU President Joseph Harroz wrote in a June 17 statement following Harper’s departure from the position the search for his replacement would begin “immediately,” Dean of Students David Surratt — who is chairing the search alongside David Wrobel, dean of the OU College of Arts and Sciences — wrote in an email to The Daily the search is “ongoing” and began in 2021 “given the likelihood of reaching a far more competitive candidate pool at this time of the academic hiring calendar.”
Surratt also wrote “immediate” timing may not indicate “the start of an ad placement, etc.,” but could also refer to “(steps as) mundane as thinking about how to move forward administratively, review of potential search firms” and other processes leading up to the search.
The search will be conducted by the search firm Greenwood/ Asher & Associates LLC, according to a LinkedIn job posting for the position. Surratt wrote the search committee will be made up of “representative members from the faculty, staff and student body,” and candidates’ names will not be shared until finalists are announced.
“At that time, the Norman campus community will be invited to hear from and engage with the candidates through a series of talks,” Surratt wrote. “Assuming our schedule is not delayed, we hope to identify finalists for the position by sometime in April.”
According to the job listing, a successful candidate “must be visionary, politically astute, and committed to public service and diversity, equity and inclusion necessary to advance the university and inspire its multiple constituencies.”
Dickson said following BERT members’ private meeting with Harper during the sit-in, she felt Harper would eventually leave the position.
“I think Provost Harper knew for a while that he probably should resign from his role. I think they were just waiting for the opportunity for him to do it,” Dickson said. “I wish Provost Harper would have just resigned (after the sitin), but I had
a feeling that his resignation was going to come soon after, which we saw happen that summer.”
Reed said she felt the sit-in had an impact on Harper’s decision to step down.
“When I first found out about it I couldn’t really say for sure, but I’d like to think that’s something we did,” Reed said.
opportunity for him to do it,” Dickson said. “I in), but I had David Surratt — who is chairing the search didate pool at this time of the academic ing may not indicate “the start of an ad placement, etc.,” but could also refer firms” and other processes leading
MULTICULTURAL CENTER AMID COVID
When the sit-in came to a close, university administrators had agreed to the formation of a feasibility committee to examine spaces on campus that could be utilized for BERT’s proposed multicultural center. A new space, Surratt said, was out of the question from the beginning.
“When we had talked about it, I was very honest with them that the amount of debt load that would have to be taken on to actually create a whole new space was not a way for us to even start a conversation on that,” Surratt said. “So what we focused on was doing a feasibility study and then at least look at ways we can repurpose existing space to where, programmatically, it serves the same purpose.”
Another important aspect of fulfilling the demand, Surratt said, is ensuring there is a clear vision for what the university hopes the new space will accomplish.
“I think that I’ve worked at a lot of universities and colleges, and there’s sometimes this idea to benchmark and try to get a space that you call a multicultural space, but not really thinking about what outcomes you’re hoping to achieve,” Surratt said. “We are still in the process of actually looking at developing a master plan that incorporates the idea of trying to activate existing space in a way that serves that purpose of providing multicultural space while also supporting our students holistically.”
The administration is taking into account the potential effects on other student populations if existing spaces are repurposed, Surratt said, adding another dimension to the decision.
“There are domino effects for any conversation
about changes in space that could help one group or one population of students but then possibly disenfranchise another,” Surratt said. “We have to be really intentional with this idea of space to achieve the outcome of trying to create a sense of increased belonging without harming others unintentionally.”
Alongside a multicultural center, BERT’s finalized demands included “additional funding and assistance for all multicultural communities” at OU. Surratt said following the sit-in, he assisted in identifying funding for “keynote” multicultural events from OU’s cultural organizations — like AISA powwows, the AASA lunar new year events and HASA Day of the Dead celebrations. That temporary funding and many of the events were affected by the COVID-19 pandemic, however.
While no specific amount of funding has been discussed as part of the demand, Surratt said this year he aims to help develop a budget proposal to identify further additional funding for cultural organizations.
PERSONNEL REVIEWS AND COMMUNITY TRAINING
One aspect of BERT’s original sit-in demands was already in development prior to the protest itself according to Belinda Higgs-Hyppolite, OU’s Vice President of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion. Training for faculty and staff based on diversity and inclusion was included as part of the university’s “Lead On, University” strategic plan.
“When I started interviewing at the University of Oklahoma, which was in the middle of 2019, there were conversations about really wanting to infuse (diversity and inclusion) initiatives into the fabric (of OU),” Hyppolite said.
OU announced its new online training diversity training modules in August 2020 as students returned to campus.
“That was a presidential mandate — we rolled it out to faculty, staff, and students, it’s self-paced because we wanted to create something that people could do in their homes, on their own, at their pace without feeling guilty, or called out or anything like that,” Hyppolite said. “The important thing was about making it accessible, and making it less intimidating so that everyone can lean into the work in some way.”
The request for proposal process to hire a developer for the university’s online training was completed in April 2020, Hyppolite said, when OU decided on Everfi as its provider for a base training with customizable elements specific to OU and Oklahoma.
“BERT bringing that as a demand, to us, affirmed that what we were trying to do was on the right path, but we needed to kick it into high gear,” Hyppolite said. “Let’s make sure we get this done, let’s make sure that this is launched as soon as possible.”
Students have an academic year to complete the training, with faculty given a semester to do so. The training must be completed every three years.
Community feedback on the course has been “overwhelmingly positive,” particularly on the new ways it presents diversity information, though other negative feedback has been focused around time commitments for the course, Hyppolite said.
Beyond this recurring online course, a “Gateway to Belonging” semester-long course is currently being developed and is planned to launch in fall 2021, Hyppolite said.
“We’re looking for that to be a part of the general education curriculum,” Hyppolite said. “The academic side of the house going through all of those committees to lift that course up, we’re in the process of trying to hire elite faculty for that now, so I would say lots of momentum, lots of good things are happening.”
The hiring of a faculty member to help head the development and teaching of the course is underway through a search committee, Hyppolite said, with applications currently being collected until roughly the end of February. The hire is projected to be made before next fall.
Irvine said the course has been developed through recommendations from a faculty task force formed in March 2020 co-chaired by herself and Hyppolite.
“We will draw on the exceptional talent of our faculty at OU to assist in providing instruction, whether through guest lectures or teaching individual course sections, and hire additional instructional faculty and postdocs to teach the course,” Irvine wrote in an email. “We anticipate that this course will provide an introduction and a pathway to the many, primarily upper-level, courses that are currently offered in departments that focus on particular aspects of diversity, equity, and inclusion.”
Irvine also confirmed the fulfillment of another BERT demand — the creation of a new faculty position: the associate provost for inclusive excellence. The position is currently held by Jane Irungu, who previously served as interim vice president for diversity and inclusion.
Not all personnel actions from BERT’s demands have been completed, however — Surratt said the “360 review” of senior administrative positions at OU has been delayed due to COVID-19.
“With (COVID-19), the amount of infrastructure tied to opening campus and being able to actually have classes and operate the campus, that was the focus, following the sit-in,” Surratt said. “I think that’s still delayed … the idea of doing a real, thorough 360 evaluation also requires IT support and infrastructure to actually do that in a way that protects the confidentiality of those who are providing feedback on executive leaders, and all of that infrastructure, all of those resources were basically tied up and trying to keep the campus going forward and managing COVID.”
Surratt said Harroz is “still committed” to the review process however, and the scope has been expanded beyond what BERT originally asked for.
“When we had further conversations, we just thought that when you talk about reviews, or personnel reviews that have pretty significant impacts on people in their jobs, you want to figure out a way to do it in a way that feels fair and equitable,” Surratt said. “At the end of the day, I think that there was understanding that you can’t necessarily target then-Provost Harper, but you should rather look at all the systems that actually hold people broadly accountable.”
VPAC
One of BERT’s final demands was the creation of a “Provost and President Advisory Board,” which would provide students with greater access to university administration and allow students more “multicultural representation” in the president’s and provost’s offices.
This demand, and the proposed responsibilities of the body, would eventually be deemed consistent with the mission and responsibilities of the Vice President’s Advisory Council.
“As the conversations evolved over time, there was a realization that there are advisory councils that consist of students that could serve this purpose,” Surratt said. “We later agreed that the Vice President’s Advisory Council that’s within Student Affairs, which engages senior administrators from the president’s office on down and incorporates elected leaders and student government leaders as part of that body would be an appropriate group to meet with and engage with the provost’s office.”
Kristen Partridge, associate vice president for student affairs and associate dean of students, said VPAC is composed of around 35 students representative of various registered student organizations.
The OU Student Government Association president and vice president, the undergraduate student congress chair, the graduate senate chair, the president of all five greek life councils, leaders of faith-based organizations like the Muslim Student Association and representatives from OU’s four major cultural organizations — the Black Student Association, the American Indian Student Association, the Hispanic American Student Association and the Asian American Student Association — are present as well.
Partridge said VPAC is an effective forum to deal with BERT’s demands, as many of the demands are things student leaders on VPAC also view as priorities.
“I definitely feel like the things that BERT has asked for are in line with what our other student leaders feel is really important at the University of Oklahoma, which is inclusion for everyone,” Partridge said. “I don’t feel like BERT is alone in what they’re saying that they need. Our students really feel, for the most part, a great amount of solidarity about wanting inclusivity and a safe place for students, no matter what you look like or where you’re from.”
While BERT as an organization is not permanently represented on VPAC since it is not a registered student organization, Partridge said BERT members have previously been on the council.
Dickson, however, was skeptical of the council’s ability to fulfill the same role as the separate body BERT envisioned in its finalized demands. Dickson said she attended several meetings as an SGA member when VPAC was being revived in 2018.
“If you know what VPAC really is, this is the opportunity for the administration to get a whole bunch of student leaders together on a Zoom call currently and say what great things they are doing to try to fix COVID-19 relief,” Dickson said. “Not really, truly giving the opportunity for students to actually check the system we live within.”
Partridge said she didn’t believe the other items VPAC addresses would make it ineffective in dealing with grievances against university administration or other issues.
“I don’t feel like we’re bogged down. I mean, VPAC, our primary focus is academic success for students, co-curricular success for students and health and wellness, so I really do feel like it fits nicely with our mission,” Partridge said. “If the university decided they wanted to have a separate advisory committee, I think that would work too. I just know that this was a body that we knew where we already had an engaged group that would be willing to share their thoughts.”
VPAC has met four times since the BERT sit-in, Partridge said — once in summer 2020, twice in the fall and then once in spring 2021.
Independently of VPAC meetings, Brown said BERT leadership met with university administrators biweekly following the sit-in and throughout the summer, up until November 2020. BERT will aim to continue regular meetings with administrators in the spring semester, Brown said.
PaShioun Young, BERT’s university grievances officer, said the organization is moving forward optimistically in its continued work with the OU administration to see through its demands.
“For me personally, I am continuing to remain optimistic with this administration,” Young said. “Although progress is happening at a slower rate than anticipated, we have seen the engagement of this university’s administration, and we hope that they, whether a (person of color) or not, will do their part in making this university the best and inclusive it can be for the students.”
Brown said as meetings with administration about the sit-in demands have continued over the past year, BERT leaders have moved forward with “an open heart, but a strong back.”
“That means we’ve essentially gone into these meetings hoping for the best outcome but prepared for worse (outcomes),” Brown said.
Moving forward on good terms after the sit-in was not difficult, Surratt said, partially because of the relationships he had already built with many of the protest’s organizers. Those relationships have continued to help build trust between BERT leadership and OU administration as demands are morphed and implemented, he said.
“I was fortunate to have had a relationship with a lot of the leadership before this event occurred. And I think, in the end, I trusted that they were earnest in their demands and their rationales and the way that they were organizing,” Surratt said. “There has to be mutual trust for us to kind of walk away from that feeling better. Because at the end of the day, when you think about activism, there has to be reconciliation of some sort in the end.”
Despite the overall positive working relationship cultivated over the past year between BERT and the OU administration, Reed said the organization remains more than ready to act against injustices on campus.
“At the end of the day, I can go hungry again if I need to,” Reed said. “That’s not a problem for me.”
The student organizers who continue to engage with OU administration have continued the ongoing civil rights campaign in the way they need to in order to be taken seriously and accomplish their objectives, Henderson said, a bright indicator for any future efforts.
“(They are) not young, unorganized students just doing something for the sake of doing something,” Henderson said. “The way that they’ve landed the timing, the coordination, and the civility — that was key for me, that was always key for me.”
Henderson said the student activists who led the sit-in — and their continued activism and drive towards their goals after the sit-in was over — stirred memories of a moment he shared with civil rights icon Martin Luther King Jr. decades prior.
“(King, myself and other organizers) had a ‘come to Jesus’ moment because some of us were complaining about the lack of respect that we were getting in our initiatives, the hours that we were spending most days,” Henderson said. “(King) looks at us all and says, ‘We entered this thing knowing that it was going to cost us time, maybe money, maybe our lives, but what did we enter it for?’ And he looked at all of us and he said, ‘For the next generation of us.’”
The BERT sit-in and its organizers — another echo of civil rights leaders and initiatives that came before — has been part of the successful progeny King envisioned, Henderson said.
“In my career,” Henderson said, “I’ve seen that the next generation of me has done quite well, thank you.”
-George Henderson, OU professor emeritus,
quoting Martin Luther King Jr. on civil rights activism
