Letter to the Editor:

Drew Williamson’s Dec. 8 Op Ed, “Debacle on 23rd St.” describes the successes of my father, Jerald C. Walker, as 14th President of Oklahoma City University during a time of economic duress for OCU, remembering the time as captured in a long-ago article entitled, “Miracle on 23rd St.” Indeed, my father did incredible things to turn OCU around in the late 1970s. By the ‘90s, OCU was part and parcel to the renaissance that Oklahoma City Mayor Ron Norick ushered in, which laid the groundwork for the great city OKC is today. While not a perfect person, my father––a highly relational 1960 alum of OCU––led with an abiding belief in the school and in its people. He worked doggedly at board development and fundraising, and convinced his partners that investments in academics, athletics, and the arts would bring forth OCU’s historic promise as a great university for a great city. My whole family, all OCU alums, are very proud of my father’s work, which went without significant recognition by OCU when in 1997 a debilitating stroke forced his retirement from his work as President. 

Williamson is right in naming voids in leadership at the executive and board levels at OCU today, many of which are tied up in the struggles for viability within the United Methodist Church. It is extremely sad to know that the foundation of my father’s legacy has been stewarded so poorly,  with one example being the November dissolution of the school’s golf program. But it is important to note the significant sacrifices that were required to do what my dad did. Our family lived and breathed OCU. The stroke that forced my father’s retirement at 58 years of age and led to his eventual passing was a direct result of the stressors of his job. While I agree that what OCU is missing today is a great leader, simple nostalgia will not get us there. No leader anywhere should have to make the trades my father did for the sake of the school. Any leader wanting to create a constructive future at OCU will require a deep embeddedness in the historic culture of the school and its situation in a very special city. This leader needs to push the edges of education and inclusion, and must create new and unlikely partnerships to conjure a twenty-first century miracle. But, perhaps more than anything, this leader needs a community of partners in time, treasure, and talent to come together to lift up our school and its people, so that the leader alone does not pay an ultimate sacrifice. 

Anne Carter Walker, Ph.D. 

Anne Walker is Associate Dean of Academic and Student Affairs at Phillips Theological Seminary in Tulsa, OK