(cnn)a video appears online in it, fraternity members from your university are chanting a hateful, racist song about lynching african americans the video goes viral you're president of the university imagine being in that situation what would you do? there are two ways to answer the question the first is in the moment of crisis the second is about the long term as most everyone knows by now, david boren,  president of the university of oklahoma, faced just this situation monday and i've been thinking about it intensely,  not only because i care about race and civic leadership in america, but also because boren was my first boss, when he was a us senator i'm not from oklahoma but ended up working for boren through a college internship he was a mentor to me during my years in washington, and a model for me when he left the beltway to be of greater use and service as an educator though we haven't talked since the crisis broke, i see familiar patterns of leadership boren responded to the crisis swiftly, with a statement that went viral boren told the students from sigma alpha epsilon (sae) he had a message for them: 'you are disgraceful you have violated all that we stand for you should not have the privilege of calling yourselves sooners' (the ou nickname) boren went on to sever all ties between ou and sae the national fraternity closed the local chapter later, boren said he'd be glad if the students in the video left campus because 'we don't provide student services for bigots' the next day he expelled two of them his actions have resonated across the country on social media, people shocked by the video find themselves also stunned by boren's response why? because he did something rare in public life today he expressed a decisive, judgmental view with moral clarity then he followed through his statements have been free of mushy lawyer talk or euphemism he's led authentically, from the heart of course, people have carped some question whether boren has the legal authority, as head of a public institution, to expel students on the basis of their free speech, even racist hate speech some lament that what he should have branded as disgraceful was the students' actions, not the students themselves legitimate concerns, perhaps the first amendment question, certainly, is being debated by legal scholars but these concerns are eclipsed by the bigger picture boren wasn't just condemning wrongdoers; he was shifting social norms for all a cynic might consider laughable a refrain from boren's statement about 'real sooners' boren said that real sooners are not racists or bigots; they believe in equal opportunity, treat people with mutual respect and love each other like family a cynic might say oklahoma is a state both very white and very red, not known for flying the banner of anti racism indeed, the original sooners were the white settlers who raced in to claim land that had been wrested from native americans but the point of boren's 'real sooners' riff is not to describe or sanitize today's reality; it is to issue a challenge it is to bind people to a creed, a standard of being and belief that is easy to assert but hard to achieve not unlike being a true patriot so now begins the longer term here, another opportunity arises to lead by example david boren can now examine the institution he works for and ask how and why such attitudes and behaviorsracism so casually viciouscould ever take root among people as young as freshmen he can explore the ways in which everyonenot only the obviously guilty parties at a frat partyis touched by unconscious bias and institutional racism he can now ask his community to face the inequities of history and race we can all do that howard schultz, ceo of starbucks, is doing this at his company he was moved after the incidents of ferguson and staten island to hold truly open forums with employees about the pain and anguish of racial division but you don't have to be a college president or a ceo you don't have to be a white man in charge to start a tough reckoning with racism (though it'd help if more did) whoever you are, you can start a new kind of conversation in your neighborhood on your campus at your house of worship ask what the history is ask why there are such imbalances of power and voice ask what it would take to be truly inclusive then, in word and deed, start answering your own questions we can all do that the sooner, the better
david boren the university of oklahoma boren today eric liu
david boren, president of the university of oklahoma, responded to offensive video  eric liu: boren did something rare in public life todayhe acted with moral clarity 