Oklahoma football players elected not to practice again Thursday, but instead silently protested on Owen Field dressed mostly in black.
Like their protest Monday, the players walked into the stadium arm-in-arm and huddled at midfield. Afterward, team captains spoke to media to address the statement several players tweeted out Thursday morning regarding the SAE incident.
“All 105 guys in the locker room have different opinions, but we still wanted to say something that represented the majority,” junior quarterback Trevor Knight said.
Linebacker Eric Striker said the captains met in several different homes in the days after a viral video depicting fraternity members leading a racist chant were released.
“We’ve been together at my house, Ty [Darlington’s] house, Trevor’s house trying to figure this out non-stop, up until 1:00, 1:30 every night, trying to figure this thing out and trying to figure out what’s best for the team, communicating that with the team, what’s best and what we think,” Striker said.
Offensive lineman Ty Darlington said the team met together to talk about the incident for the first time Sunday night, just hours after the video was released.
“When it came out on Sunday, it was initially, for everyone, an igniting issue, something that provoked a lot of feelings as we’ve seen from all the reactions of it,” he said. “It was no different on our team. We’re human beings. Every one of us had a lot of conflicting emotions and we immediately realized that whatever we do, we have to do it as a team or else it was going to divide everyone.”
The team finalized their statement Wednesday night, according to the captains.
The statement, which is intended to represent all Oklahoma student-athletes, calls for change on campus that would hopefully spread nationwide as well as further investigation and punishment for those involved in the video.
“The two students that have been expelled are only a symptom of a larger disease, a disease perpetuated by the leadership of the Sigma Alpha Epsilon,” the statement said. “The chant was not invented by the two that led it, but was taught to underclassmen by people of higher authority.”
However, Striker was adamant Thursday that the video does not represent the University or state as a whole.
“Like I said on CNN, this is not a reflection of the people here in Oklahoma, this university,” he said. “There’s so many great people here. We can’t let a little spat ruin it for the whole state.”
This is not the first spat football players have had with fraternity members, according to Striker, although this is the biggest.
“We’ve had little mini-conversations about how we feel about it and we’ve been very mature about it in moving on with our lives,” Striker said. “I would say that those flames from before helped the ideas we came up with as a group.”
Just hours after releasing a statement calling for further investigation into the fraternity and its culture, Striker told reporters the captains are happy with how the University handled the situation
“Definitely, I’ve been satisfied,” he said. “President Boren has done a lot of great things so far and we stand by him.”
The two students seen in the racist video are no longer at the University and both camps have issued formal apologies. Striker said the team is not holding a grudge against Greek life or its members.
“[The apologies are] definitely accepted,” he said. “We’re forgiving people but we just felt like those were steps we needed to take.”
Oklahoma will return to practice March 23, the first Monday after spring break. According to the statement, the players will wear black for their remaining spring practices in solidarity.
