The University of Oklahoma announced Tuesday that it has hired Jabar Shumate as its new vice president overseeing diversity and inclusion initiatives. Shumate is a former Oklahoma state senator and a former press secretary for David Boren, the University of Oklahoma's president. "I knew that this person had to be someone in whom I had complete trust," Boren said during a news conference Tuesday. "Complete trust in their actions, complete trust in their motives, complete trust in their good judgment."
The hire came weeks after a video surfaced showing members of Oklahoma's Sigma Alpha Epsilon chapter singing a racist song, prompting the university to sever ties with the fraternity and engage in an ongoing conversation about diversity on campus.