The Latest: Oklahoma students demand action after video
Posted Jan 22, 2019 03:50:04 PM.
This article is more than 5 years old.
NORMAN, Okla. — The Latest on a two now-former University of Oklahoma students’ involvement in a video in which one of the women wore blackface and used a racial epithet (all times local):
2:45 p.m.
University of Oklahoma students are demanding action from campus administrators after video of a now-former student wearing blackface and using a racial epithet got attention online.
About 1,000 students and faculty members gathered at a campus rally Tuesday during which administrators condemned the video.
Senior Courtney Patterson says the university administration is trying to make the right decisions but that students should be included in those conversations.
Patterson echoed demands from the campus Black Student Association calling for adding a zero-tolerance policy on hate speech to the student code of conduct and for the hiring of more African American faculty and staff.
The school on Tuesday also released statements from the former students apologizing for any pain they had caused.
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12:30 p.m.
Two former University of Oklahoma students are publicly apologizing for their involvement in a video in which one of the women wore blackface and used a racial epithet.
The university released statements Tuesday from former students Frances Ford and Olivia Urban. Urban called the video “the most regrettable decision of my life” and says there’s no excuse for such behaviour “in private or public.” Ford says the video was “insensitive and irresponsible.”
The school says the apologies were sent to the Office of University Community on Saturday, a day after the video surfaced. University President James Gallogly announced Monday that both women had voluntarily withdrawn from campus.
A student rally is planned for Tuesday.
The university severed ties with a fraternity in 2015 after several members took part in a chant caught on video that referenced lynching.
The Associated Press
