While some may think the resignation of King Alexander is a final victory for women’s justice, a serious problem still remains: a horribly tone deaf OSU Board of Trustees that is clearly far out of touch with the students, faculty, and Corvallis community.

While the community has been quite vocal the last four years about the need to move toward a more inclusive leadership that takes racial and women’s justice seriously, this Board of Trustees hired a white guy from Louisiana who insists we refer to him as King Alexander. I mean who could have imagined he would be the living icon for old white guy paternalism?

How could this Board of Trustees be so tone deaf? Well, it might have something to do with the fact that students, faculty, and the Corvallis community have absolutely no say in how these people are selected for the Board. This needs to change. We need to ask our state legislature to fix a broken system where there is no accountability for the Board. We need to be assured that students and faculty have a real voice in the make-up of this Board. This in turn will ensure that when a new President is hired, there will be a more transparent process that also includes the OSU community in choosing that new President.

No more white guys who call themselves King—we want a Board that represents our strong desire for racial and gender justice. Dear Board, can you hear us now?

Dave Toler

Corvallis, Ore.