Published: October 11, 2008 12:00 am            

RUF/NEKS revitalized

DALLAS -- Some Sooner game day traditions stay the same.

The University of Oklahoma RUF/NEKS shooting their guns and driving the schooner across the end zone after touchdowns is certainly one of them.

But this is the first football season since the all-male spirit group was reorganized, changing many longstanding traditions. But while the group may have looked different to its members, it still looked the same to spectators.

And members say that's a good thing.

"If the crowd doesn't notice a difference, that's a good thing for us," said Landon Collins, RUF/NEKS president.

The independent student group was established in 1915. It has a rich history, but this spring the OU administration decided to reorganize the group under the authority of the Athletic Department.

OU President David Boren said last fall that the university was alerted to dangerous hazing practices by the RUF/NEKS through several calls to the anonymous hazing hotline after OU-Texas weekend. An investigation found evidence of the misuse of alcohol as well as evidence that pledges were subjected to a "pervasive" atmosphere of hazing, Boren said.

So the entire membership of the RUF/NEKS was dismissed and RUF/NEK alumni and first-year pledges carried on the traditions for the rest of the season.

Collins was one of those pledges. He said the allegations against the RUF/NEKS were "blown extremely out of proportion."

"A lot of stories got started that weren't necessarily true," he said. There was no hazing, he said.

"Really what we got in trouble for was the alcohol thing," Collins said.

In an effort to keep the tradition of the RUF/NEKS going while addressing the problems, the administration changed the way membership was chosen.

Instead of pledging to the group like a fraternity, men interested in becoming members filled out applications and then were interviewed by a board of RUF/NEK alumni and OU personnel.

Clarke Stroud, vice president of Student Life and a RUF/NEKS alumni, sits on the board that selected the new membership this year. He said the young men are handling the changes well.

"To go and in one year fundamentally change the membership and the culture and the direction of the organization, I think it's gone really very well," he said.

This year, six pledges from last year returned and eight new men were added to the group, said Lori Kemmet, spirit coordinator at the Athletic Department. Eventually, the department would like to have 20 in the group.

The group this year was chosen to be a good representation of the Sooner name, Kemmet said.

"Sometimes they created a reputation for themselves that wasn't the image we wanted to put forth," she said.

Collins said the group is using this weekend to try to improve their image.

"We want to just try to get our name back out there," he said. "I think people have a negative image of us."

The weekend in Dallas will look different this year for the RUF/NEKS. Instead of being autonomous, the group will travel around with the other spirit squads to perform at alumni and fundraising events.

Although this limits their activities, Collins said the perks are worth it. For one thing, now that the RUF/NEKS are under the Athletic Department, funding isn't an issue. The department has helped out financially, he said, "everything from getting paint to paint the shotgun to little things like T-shirts."

Although all transitions have the potential to be rocky, Collins said the RUF/NEKS have moved fairly smoothly their new position in the Athletic Department.

"Considering everything that happened last year, I think it's going extremely well."

Julianna Parker 366-3541 jparker@normantranscript.com

        

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