Identity Crisis: One Body, Two Delegates

Chase Congleton.

Each session of the Oklahoma Intercollegiate Legislature has its own unique story to tell between the chambers and the halls. Aside from the smell of paint and the sight of dust in the air from construction, there is something else quite peculiar regarding a certain delegate.

 Freshman delegate Thaddeus Osborne is a freshman from Southeastern Oklahoma State University and has appeared today during this session. He caucuses with other delegates in the House of Representatives like a complete professional.

However, what delegates may not know is that Osborne is no stranger to O.I.L. as a whole. Delegates may remember Thaddeus Osborne as Sam Tarpley from Oklahoma City University who competed in O.I.L. in the fall of 2018. Tarpley was runner-up best delegate in the Senate and was elected as the floor leader for the spring 2019 session. However, Tarpley competes in golf with OCU and had to drop out of O.I.L. in the spring due to athletic conflicts.

The two seem to have met together and blended personalities into one body because when he was interviewed earlier today, only names, third-person pronouns and the first-person pronoun “we” were used. No identity was specified throughout the interview.

Skyler Riddle, the Secretary of State for O.I.L., said that there is an alcohol policy signed for Thaddeus Osborne but not an alcohol policy signed for Sam Tarpley. Tarpley later today signed an alcohol policy with, coincidentally, the same handwriting as Osborne, further providing evidence that

According to members of the delegation, it is believed that the members of SE’s delegation planned this case of identity theft behind Selby Stanton’s back.

            In the middle of the conversation with Tarpley, Tarpley was asked how he is able to compete with SE if he is not from SE.

            “Well, I think a lot of times we have to make bold decisions,” Tarpley said. “When considering the idea of being bold, sometimes you have to go out of the box, and sometimes you have to break through the barriers and show up when you’re not supposed to.

Attached to the article is an audio file from the interview.

https://www.dropbox.com/s/s8unwha9nfu3d53/ThaddeusSam.mp3?dl=0