An unknown perpetrator hacked the virtual commencement ceremony on May 9 and displayed a racist and antisemitic drawing on the Zoom conference call screen.
The drawing included a racial slur and a depiction of a swastika. It appeared as the names of the graduating seniors were scrolling across the screen, following an interfaith prayer by Jay Williams, religion senior. The message was written on a black box projected across the screen, which every member of the call could see.
Levi Harrel, dean of students, was the panelist assigned to the ceremony.
“While security measures were put into place to monitor the ceremony as a whole, a hacker was able to get into the system on the backend and superimpose that imagery across the screen,” Harrel said.
Harrel said security measures included having several administrators operating the call, as well as other administrators monitoring the call’s waiting room and the chat feed.
“The ceremony was ended abruptly when the superimposed box came down. It is my understanding that campus administrators and campus technology were the ones to end the ceremony,” he said.
Williams said he believes the hacker waited until the end of the ceremony in order to ruin the event.
“Obviously, I was overcome with emotions, but I think it was more so out of the fact that it felt like we never got the graduation we deserved. Yeah, that was harmful to see, and those were obviously words of hate, but people of color and minority communities, we face those kinds of hateful messages everyday,” Williams said.
Alison Sloan, acting senior, said she believed this event should be addressed at the commencement ceremony in the fall. Sloan said she didn’t think the university should have used Zoom. In her hometown, a Dallas Independent School District meeting via Zoom was recently hacked with images of child pornography.
“I don’t really know how this can get fixed,” Sloan said. “I think that the only thing that we can do right now is heal, and if anyone has ideas of how to speed up that process, that would be great. I think that we need to be sending as much love and support to everyone affected as much as possible.”
A Zoom spokesperson has issued a statement in response to these, and similar incidents.
“We have been deeply upset to hear about these types of incidents. Zoom strongly condemns such behavior and recently updated several features to help our users more easily protect their meetings,” they said.
Isabella Gonzalez, acting senior, was watching the ceremony when the hack occurred. She said many of her Jewish family members were also watching the ceremony.
“More than anything I was shocked,” Gonzalez said. “I was kind of sad, but I was angry. I was mad. I felt really protective of just everyone who had to watch that.”
Gonzalez said she doesn’t believe the hacker, who she assumes is a man, won because of the ensuing outpouring of support for those affected by the event.
“They didn’t even get what they wanted to out of it, besides the shock value, because what came next was all of the beautiful and amazing people who were hurt by this are being uplifted and given more love and are getting recognition, and not him. So in the end, nothing is coming from this for him,” she said.
Williams said he believed in leaving a positive message in the aftermath of the event.
“I never think that it’s okay to fight hate with hate. So, we always try to fight hate with love and make a difference that way. I think that’s truly how you make a difference in the world,” he said.
University President Martha Burger released a statement the afternoon of May 9, stating university officials are working with state and federal authorities to investigate the incident. Administrative staff were unable to comment due to the active investigation.
“We are deeply hurt and saddened by the pain that has been inflicted upon our community. The Class of 2020 has been champions of diversity and inclusion, and we will continue to show love and support to each other as a university family in the aftermath of this hate,” the statement read.
Before the virtual ceremony, officials had already been planning a postponed in-person ceremony. Williams said he was a major proponent of an in-person commencement. Harrel said graduating seniors have been polled to determine a possible schedule for the event. At press time, a date for the event has not been confirmed by university officials. Harrel said there is no current plan for another online ceremony or celebration of the senior class.
Gonzalez said she believes if the in-person commencement is delayed or cancelled, the university should honor the class of 2020 physically in some way, such as with a scholarship or bench. She said she wanted to congratulate her class members.
“This is a monumental moment in our lives, and it should be celebrated. And a 10-second moment should not take away from all of our hard work and dedication and love and sweat and tears that we’ve put into our college careers, so keep on moving, and all my love,” she said.
Harrel stated the aftermath of the event shows the true character of OCU.
“These acts of racism and antisemitism do not reflect the values of the university. The love and solidarity that has been seen and has been witnessed and has been provided by the campus community, that is a reflection of the values that embody our campus community,” Harrel said.
Williams said two pastors he knows, Elaine Robinson, professor of seminary at St. Paul School of Theology and co-pastor at Village United Methodist Church, and Scott Spencer, lead pastor at Mosaic United Methodist Church, organized an event called “Signs of Love.”
On May 10, a day after the ceremony, the pastors organized the event and created signs with messages of love, anti-racism and anti-hate, which were posted on 23rd Street outside the university.
“It was a good outcome, better than I thought,” Williams said.
Williams said he wanted to thank the surrounding community for supporting the OCU class of 2020, and he believes the class of 2020 is a group that can make change in the world.
“I just want to encourage them to continue to do that, and just like my prayer strives to do, is to remind our community and people in the class of 2020 that we have a responsibility to go out and make the world a better place, a more inclusive and loving place for all of creation,” Williams said. “Things that happen, like at graduation, might continue to happen, but we have to continue to fight and love, persist and continue to make a difference, no matter what comes in the way.”
In a second statement on May 9, President Martha Burger attached a clip of Jay Williams’s prayer from the ceremony and said the campus is committed to supporting students through this time and the coming months, including pastoral care and University Counseling services.
“I cannot remove this pain and hurt, but I want you to know, that at OCU, we will continue to pursue the values that define us – values of integrity, respect, diversity and inclusion, and collaboration,” the email read. “We will work together to ensure that love, not hate, prevails.”
Students can contact university counseling by calling 405-208-7901 or by emailing Chloe Roby, counseling administrative assistant, at croby@okcu.edu.
Leave a Reply