Journalist: Sydni Callaway (OSU)
As the end of day two of session at Oklahoma Intercollegiate Legislature approaches, an uproar from the Oklahoma State Delegation was heard throughout the house. Rep. Josh Mensah-Woode (ORU) proposed a bill, ORU-513, which would enact a holiday titled “Boomer Sooner Day”.
As OSU has one of the largest delegations, there was a lot of commotion on this bill throughout the house. Mensah-Woode proposed that this day was to highlight the University of Oklahoma’s success in football and softball. Mensah-Woode, an ORU student, said that “ORU doesn’t have a football or softball team… so I had to choose the best one in the state as the Colorado Buffs are in the Big XII against OSU”.
Rep. Baylor Haynes (OSU) and Rep. Samuel Gillis (OSU) proposed a friendly amendment to the bill being changed from “Boomer Sooner Day” to “Horns Down Day”. This friendly amendment brought others to change their opinion on the bill.
In the debate, those on the opponency were mainly OSU delegates. Rep. Chandler Patterson (OSU) briefed the House on how Oklahoma as a whole needs to unite, as Texas has tried to secede multiple times from the United States. Rep. Alex Edmundson (OSU) also educated the House on the history of recent racism at OU, which should be why everyone should vote no.
Rep. Benjamin Clinkenbeard (ORU) originally was pro-bill, however after the amendments his views changed. “It changed from Boomer Sooner Day to just Horns Down Day,” said Clickenbeard when talking about why he changed his vote. “I’m genuinely unbothered and I didn’t expect this to pass at all. As an ORU delegate, I felt entitled to say yes, but after the amendments it really wasn’t an ORU bill anymore” said Clickenbeard.
Rep. Kylie Hood (OSU) voted yes on the bill. “I think it’s just a fun idea to unite people and I think that it’s always great to have something that is able to direct collective attention into something more of a fun spirit rather than something serious,” said Hood. Aiming to unite all delegations, having a Horns Down Day would bring something Oklahomans all agree on.
The vote on the bill ultimately resulted in a tie. Broken by Speaker of the House Cannon Mitchell (ALU), the bill ultimately failed, which caused a large celebration among the delegates in the House.