Oklahoma Governor Kevin Stitt tapped an Ohio businessman for the University of Oklahoma Board of Regents, following through on his plan to appoint an African-American member to help oversee a university that has seen multiple racist incidents in recent years.
Stitt picked Eric Stevenson, the senior vice president of Nationwide Retirement Plans. Stevenson is a native of Wagoner, Oklahoma, and received his bachelor's degree from OU. Students demanded more faculty and staff diversity during a January campus rally after two white students were involved in a video in which one of the women wore blackface and used a racial slur. That followed a 2015 video showing members of a fraternity participating in a racist chant.