Oklahoma Baptist University

every 2 equality riders is assigned to be the point person for one of our 19 stops. myself and the other native oklahoman, pam disel, were in charge of our events for OBU. what an amazing and difficult task to attempt to coordinate 2 days worth of activities between 33 activists and 1,649 OBU students, taking into account the universities’ limitations that they place on us due to our orientation and message.

from the start it was my job to correspond with OBU’s vice president about our intentions and plans. it was quite an awesome experience, to trust someone who you know is opposed to your presence on their campus yet continue to be fully open and honest, knowing that only transparent communication would be in line with keeping your methods as pure as your intentions.

OBU would be the second school which would allow us on campus in a fashion that would allow us to dialogue with students. (Lee was the 1^st.) the V.P. had told me that OBU’s expectations of us would be similar to that of Lee (which meant we could not present our presentations, but only talk with student’s one-on-one.) OBU was even more restrictive in the fact that we were only allowed to be in their student center (as opposed to the entire campus) and that we were initially not able to pass our literature as we had at Lee. it is very hard to accept conditions which speak of the inferiority and unimportance with which the administration views us. but we made the call to abide by their restrictions in order to honor the small step they had taken by allowing us on campus. in that one day we hoped we could show OBU our peaceful methods, our important message, and our pure intentions. the next day we would offer OBU a chance to take an even larger step; we would pass out our literature, leaving behind printed versions of our dialogue which would remain even after our bus rolled away. it would be OBU’s choice of whether to allow us this action or to take action against us for this step.

i truly believe it was due to the mutual trust and respect that OBU’s v.p. and myself had for each other that we were allowed to pass out our literature on that second day. granted, it was not as we would have preferred, only being allowed distribute our message in the student center as opposed to the entire campus. but i chose to again honor this second small step as a gain; true, it still was equal to inequality, but i believe each step towards justice must be acknowledged and praised; change is a process and my hope is that it will continue to grow even after we leave.

that second day we held a commUNITY rally. it began with drumming on behalf of my home church (church of the open arms) and proceeded with 2 speakers, ryan rolston and rev. scott jones. ryan is 22 and told her story of being outcast from OBU because her girlfriend kissed her cheek off campus. scott followed with his witness of being one of OBU’s most distinguished alums and also his knowledge of a friend who was expelled from school due to the confirmation of his orientation by evidence of a brutal hate crime for which he suffered. afterwards we presented a newly formed coalition which consisted of local churches and organizations who have pledged to be there for OBU students’ who suffer in closets of spiritual and physical violence because of the discriminatory policy at their school. the rally concluded with a passing out of mustard seeds; we have come and hopefully planted seeds of the kindom of God at OBU; it is now the responsibility and challenge of the community to water and nourish these seeds to their fruition. several rounds of “we shall overcome” closed our visit to our last stop in my home state.