The stranger, the professor and the college student

To the Editor:

I crossed paths with a stranger who stopped here long enough to fill his tank with gas and his cup with coffee. He was prone to talk, and seemed to know a lot about current events. I liked the way he talked, so I asked his name, hoping he would pass this way again. “I was born Will Healus, but you can call me Willie.” Willie had a folksy way about him.

The frat boy racism at Oklahoma University was on Willie’s mind — in particular, what some of the boys did, and how OU President Boren reacted. Willie’s gut feeling about Boren was positive, even if some innocent boys had to be punished along with the guilty. But a black female professor who teaches at SMU caused Willie to rethink his hasty approval of how Boren handled this.

An editorial in the Houston Chronicle, written by The Rev. Dr. Maria Dixon Hall, impressed Willie more than President Boren’s way of thinking. Everyone within hearing distance of Willie was sure enough surprised that he could recite part of Dr. Hall’s editorial, word for word: “Rather than marching and shouting, what if President Boren invited the young men on that bus who sang their hateful song to sit and watch the video with the black staff members of the SAE house who fixed their meals and cleaned their rooms? Just played it over and again or even ask them to sing the song live. What if after their live performance President Boren finally allowed Walter, the man who cooked their meals for the last 15 years, to ask the young men one simple question: ‘is this what you really think of me?’ There is a time for marching and there is a time for conversation, and by expelling these students OU made it easier for them to hide and to avoid the real mid-term exam of their lives.”

Willie then borrowed some more of the professor’s words, and added a few of his own. While the guilty frat boys are being humbled by making them repeat their hateful words, why not require their parents to listen to the sons they have raised? Even the innocent fraternity members should hear their friends’ humiliating words, words which should never again be said, sung, or tolerated. Other people on the OU campus could profit by seeing the fraternity’s serious effort to make its young men better, so invite any and all who have been offended. Owen Memorial Stadium can seat at least 82,000 people. What the professor recommends — “the real mid-term exam of their lives” — can be taken in what will be OU’s largest classroom.

Willie’s common sense and good intentions impressed me. Just before he drove off, he said he didn’t want our conversation to end, not with him failing to think the whole thing through. “All of us should be willing to admit that there are some frat boys who have good hearts. And there are bound to be some college presidents who are wise.” Come to find out Willie also had a sarcastic way about him, which is not altogether bad. Sarcasm is like salt. The proper amount can serve a good purpose.

I barely know Willie. I don’t know Dr. Hall, and I don’t know President Boren. But if I could choose two of these three to be the OU President, either Willie or Dr. Hall would serve that college well.

Goodwin White Camden