Running head: APPLICATIONS PAPER

Applications Paper:
An Analysis In Organization and Governance at Oklahoma University
Hector Solis-Ortiz
Loyola University Chicago

Introduction
Fraternities and sororities have been a part of college life for a very long time and have
permeated the way in which students choose to get involved within their time in college.
Furthermore, it creates an interesting dynamic within the administration as they struggle to
understand how to control and or regulate behaviors that come from Greek life. In the media
there is constant chatter of how fraternities and sororities are getting into trouble due to hazing
incidents, that they provide of lack of ethnic diversity, and are hub for being in trouble with
incidents that revolve around sexual assault just to name a few.
Since the Greek system is a part of university life it also is interesting to see how within
an institution administrators deal and work within this complex organization to regulate and
make decisions for the behavior that is exhibited and incidents that arise. There have been many
incidents recently that have put the Greek system in the spotlight yet again. Since this happens
quite frequently there are talks about valid decision-making that goes on from administrators

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when those incidents occur on college campuses. There are a number of factors to consider in
how organization and governance plays out within this system. Anywhere from administrators
decision making roles to taking cultural perspectives within an institution in consideration and
seeing how change can influence and move things forward.
Oklahoma University Sigma Alpha Epsilon Chant
In most recent developments the Sigma Alpha Epsilon (SAE) chapter at Oklahoma
University (OU) recently came under fire for a video that displayed members of the chapter
singing a very offensive song. In the video there were a number of undergraduate members
singing a song where they used a derogatory word to describe African Americans and saying that
there will never be a student admitted into the organization. After this video surfaced online
there was outrage amongst the student population and within the administration as to how to
move forward. SAE is no stranger to scandal throughout the years and has been considered to be
the deadliest fraternity in that its members have died from alcohol poisoning or from incidents
that might have come from severe hazing incidents. This being said it gives better context as to
how this event affected the student population. When the video was released there was uproar by
the students and the administration.
President David Boren of OU was very outspoken towards the behavior and was swift to
act in his decision to face the issues that were arising on campus. As a result the universitys
president, ordered all members of the fraternity to leave the house within the week of the
incident and not only that he decided that the university would disassociate themselves from the
organization. According to an article written by Jake New in Inside Higher Ed he stated,
president Boren said that the university would not be offering members housing assistance, we
dont provide student services to bigots...to those who have misused their free speech in such a
reprehensible way, I have a message for you. You are disgraceful...Real Sooners love each other
and take care of each other like family members (2015). These were very harsh words spoken

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by a university official and the way in which he dealt with it has been met with much criticism
both good and bad. This decision to be so public with how this situation dealt with this was
criticized, but exhibited various concepts from Kezar, Manning, and Birnbaum have that
addressed decision making, culture of institutional change, and transformational leadership.
Kezar Approach
To delve deeper into this incident we can then use Kezars (2004) approach of change and
how that plays out in this event. The most obvious type of change is that of climate and more so
institutional change in recognizing that this behavior reflected negatively on the institution and
shed light to the lack of cultural competence that existed within a subgroup within the larger
institution. Kezar (2004) identifies change as those intentional acts where a particular leader
drives or implements a new direction. In fact, people are drawn not only to changes but
innovative ones that draw upon new and creative ideas (p. xiii). President Boren was praised
for taking a stand against the students who were portraying offensive behavior that discriminates
against a subset of students. The fraternity could have had several other consequences thrust on
them, but having them banned from campus and dissociated from the university signified a
change in what was acceptable within the institution. It was a gesture to make others in the
community know that they were committed to maintaining an educational environment that was
open to all people.
This incident also showcased a change being made in the climate of the institution and
how that manifested itself through that one decision. Even though this decision was made this is
just the first process of actually getting change to happen especially since change in climate is
most effective when it develops over time. Kezar (2004) states, multicultural initiative involves
second-order change, where the underlying values, assumptions, structures, processes, and
culture needed to be addressed in order for change to occur (p. 49). Meaning that the change
comes in two orders.

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The first one would be the fact that by OU dissociating themselves from the fraternity
and shutting down the organization it sent a message across campus that discriminatory acts
would not be tolerated and does not fit with the mission of the university. Looking at this
situation through a critical lens we then have to see what the implications of those changes look
like. In order to have that second-order change it would entail figuring out how students are
reacting to the incident and how they view the institutional climate. Once this is done then
coming up with initiatives that can address those student concerns would be something that the
OU administration would have to implement in order to fully realize and make impactful change
and make it an effective one at that.
Manning Approach
Taking into account that this incident was primarily due to a few students setting the tone,
their actions gave way to speculation of whether OU was a place that condoned racist behavior.
This can connect to the values and assumptions that are had in a cultural perspective within the
institution. Manning (2013) mentions that values and assumptions are important in higher
education settings because they are built into the fabric of college tradition and can inform how
administrators make decisions. President Boren throughout this entire ordeal kept talking about
what it meant to be apart of the OU family and what were the values that came along with
holding that Sooner identity. This meant holding a sense of social responsibility in being
accepting towards all within this academic setting. This incident could speak to the clash of
cultures within the university in that the SAE organization in that specific chapter has had a
culture of condoning this behavior in the past.
By president Boren stepping in and taking a stance on the issue of social justice and
wanting to change the culture he was invoking a transformational leadership approach in his
decision-making process. As Manning (2013) states, from a transformational position the
purpose of leadership in higher education then is to promote social justice principles that

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promote diversity as a transformative force in higher education and as a social change agent in
society (p. 106). This is exactly what happened throughout the incident. President Boren was
swift with his decision-making, but was very candid as to his response as to why he handled it
the way he did. Boren was not afraid to call out the behavior in any way and made sure to show
the rest of the community that as an institution they would not condone racism. Though this
decision was made there is now more work that needs to be done to make sure that actual
changes within the climate of the university get changed and fixed for the better.
Birnbaum Approach
In terms, of Birnbaums approach and how it manifested itself in this situation it
came down to administrations role in decision making and it all went back to institutional
culture. Culture is the glue that holds the institution together and can inform everyday decisionmaking. Borens decision making might be considered to be a rational one in some senses, but
might have criticisms from other student affairs professionals in the field. Birnbaum (1988)
states, an objectively rational administrator is one who knows all the information, considers all
the alternatives, evaluates and compares all sets, of consequences, and then selects the best
alternative (p. 57). In some ways his decision to proceed the way in which he did could be seen
as being rational, but there are instance where he might have made alternative decisions to
inform the student experience.
Though the incident was one that was audacious just by removing the fraternity off of
campus that does not necessarily fix the problems that exist within the system itself. This
decision could also be seen as being rash in that it does not provide a chance for some
intervention from administrators. Administrators or student affairs professionals did not address
the behavior nor provided a chance to educate in cultural competence or provide student
development for those students involved in the video. In that sense this decision rationale could
also strike up the conversation about where the institution goes from there and how they can

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make sure that other programs or the Greek system can have more intentional conversations that
revolve around race and social justice. One can only assume this lack of care in cultural
competence or lack of awareness is not just happening in this organization, but might be a part of
the culture at this institution.
Conclusion
Overall, I believe this incident was a prime example as to how organizations function
within a greater institutional mission. OU has made some strides in trying to correct the
behavior that was exhibited in by some students who made some poor decisions, but that does
not mean that the problem is fixed. What struck me about this event is just the response and
decisions that occurred in such a short amount of time. Often within organizations things have to
be well calculated and often you have to find ways to filter ones response to an issue. President
Boren was not only candid about how he felt about this situation, but chose not to shy away from
the issue of diversity and inclusion and found ways to rectify the situation.
Climate and institutional changes are complex and have many facets to them, but overall
take time to see that change be enacted. The decision to kick off a Greek organization so quickly
after an incident is a start to having those conversations, but there might more to be done on
campus to make sure that students feel supported and heard. After this incident the institution
will have to find ways in which to govern student organizations and find more effective ways to
bring up these issues that are still not only prevalent at this institution, but in others as well.
Greek organizations also have to align their priorities of gaining members while governing
behavior and this incident is a platform to begin that institutional change.

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7
References

Birnbaum, R. (1988). How colleges work: The cybernetics of academic organization and
leadership. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.
Kezar, A. (2014). How colleges change: Understanding, leading and enacting change. New
York: Routledge.
Manning, K. (2013). Organizational theory in higher education. New York: Routledge
New, J. (2015, March 10). Deadliest and Most Racist? Retrieved from
https://www.insidehighered.com/news/2015/03/10/several-sigma-alpha-epsilon-chaptersaccused-racism-recent-years