Before President Jensen took any action on the committee’s recommendations, Oregon State Representative Wally Priestly of Portland, also a member of Sigma Chi, proposed a bill that would require Oregon universities to withdraw recognition of student groups that practiced discrimination. This was meant to put pressure on Jensen to act more swiftly. When Priestley contacted Jensen in February to get his position on the existing policy of the State Board of Higher Education, Jensen’s reply simply quoted the board’s existing anti-discrimination policy while also reassuring Priestley that he was “endeavoring and will continue to exert every effort to carry out the policy contained in these statements.” But Jensen’s reassurance was not enough, and Priestley publicly denounced his lack of decisive action in the Okino case. By March, Priestley’s efforts had led to even stronger language against discrimination in the State Board’s requirements for membership in campus groups.
Over a year after he was originally pledged, Eugene Okino was finally initiated on March 4, 1967. Within two weeks, Jensen issued a statement recapping what had happened, noting that Oregon State College had encouraged Beta Pi to try to resolve the matter on its own and that the college had merely concluded that discrimination had occurred and not sought any further actions. Jensen however was also pushing for changes to Sigma Chi’s national policies. By August, Donald W. Godard, Consul to Beta Pi, and Floyd R. Baker, Grand Consul of Sigma Chi, proposed a statement affirming Sigma Chi’s position of non-discrimination. While stressing the irrelevance of “race, creed, color, or national origin” to the selection of members, the statement did nothing to change the selection procedures that had led to Reynolds originally interfering with Okino’s initiation.
Meanwhile, Deans Robert W. Chick, JoAnne Johnson, and Dan W. Poling reviewed the membership procedures of Oregon State’s thirty-three fraternities and found that only Sigma Chi failed to be in accordance with membership requirements put into place by the State Board of Higher Education in March. By mid-September, Oregon State College moved to withdraw recognition from Sigma Chi as a campus group. Due to Floyd Baker’s slow response, Dean Chick had already drafted a statement that would formally withdraw recognition of Sigma Chi on October 15. But, on October 10, Baker’s response finally arrived, claiming he had been out of his office for the previous two weeks, but would call a “special meeting of the Executive Council” to resolve the matter by the twenty-fifth. Dean Chick granted an extension to allow Sigma Chi to take action before officially withdrawing recognition. (I assume) Sigma Chi’s last minute efforts were successful in appeasing Oregon State’s new standards and the fraternity was allowed to continue its presence on campus.
