LANGSTON — When the fall semester began, Langston University students returned to campus and found a surprise: Town officials had passed an ordinance banning students from having off-campus parties within city limits, a move that follows the university’s push for stricter enforcement of its “dry campus” policy — the prohibition of alcohol and substances on university property, regardless of age.
Feeling as though they lost a necessary outlet and long-standing tradition, Langston’s Student Government Association President Myles Lowery and other student leaders started discussions with local officials in hopes of rebuilding relationships between the town and university students. To their surprise, a canceled government meeting turned into an eye-opening conversation about the town and university’s history, as well as the dire need for investment and community engagement in the Langston area.
On Sept. 12, when an illness postponed a meeting of the Langston Town Board of Trustees, student and community leaders stayed at city hall to discuss their strained relationship, which Langston Chamber of Commerce member Jaquita Bruner said arises in part from students’ disregard for the permanent residents of the historic town.
“Half of [the students] don’t even know we’re here,” Bruner said. “This town built this school. It was a passion between everybody. Everybody out here (…) bled LU. Even if they didn’t work there, they worked for it. They put everything they had into it. They gave money to it. They love that college, but there’s a disconnect now.”
During the hour-long conversation, Bruner and William Horey, another member of the Langston Chamber of Commerce, expressed their appreciation for students visiting city hall to participate in the meeting, as well as their growing concern that the town of Langston is only years away from disappearing.
“See, I’m glad y’all even decided to come,” Horey told students. “So maybe y’all come more, get some people over here like us, who can think (…) because a lot of people over here, they’re just content with dying out.”
Town’s survival threatened as residents face dilemma
Many Black Oklahomans can trace their history in the area to westward expansion even before the Civil War, as some Black people enslaved by Native Americans arrived here following the Indian Removal Act of 1830. After slavery was abolished in southern states, other newly-freed Black men and women opted to settle in what would become Oklahoma — a place with land, oil and the hope for opportunity.
As lands were opened for non-Indigenous settlement, other Black people followed suit to their white counterparts and traveled to Indian and Oklahoma territories in search of better lives and freedom. They settled communities like Langston, Boley, Redbird and dozens more, which became known as all-Black towns.
More than a century later, Langston and Boley stand as the largest of only 13 historically Black towns remaining in Oklahoma.
Although the struggles of a small town in American can rarely be blamed on a singular occurrence, Bruner holds firm to her belief that the slight rerouting of State Highway 33 — a 135-mile highway designated in 1927 that intersects both Interstate 35 and Interstate 44 — marked the start of the town’s downfall.
“The highway’s the No. 1 culprit,” Bruner said. “When that highway came, we had probably 20 businesses, but they can’t survive with everybody going around us and not through [Langston]. (…) So you see where Old 33 and New 33 is? New 33 ruined everything.”
Relocated as part of a widening project in 2000 spurred by safety concerns — 12 people died in automobile accidents over 13 years — State Highway 33 now runs north around the outskirts of Langston, thus decreasing tourism and travel stops in the historic town. The Old State Highway 33 now serves as the backroad into Langston and the university’s campus.
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Langston University stands as the only historically Black college or university in the state, and compared to the 12 other historically Black towns in Oklahoma, Langston has a younger population.
Langston University enrolls more than half of its students from out-of-state, and it annually brings thousands of students, faculty, staff and family members to the area. However, it has limited financial impact on the town, which has few places for students and university community members to spend their money.
As the dynamics have shifted from the town building the university to the university now keeping the town alive, much of the hope Horey and Bruner have left lies with the “youngsters” attending Langston University, especially those who may be missing their own families.
“I just think there’s some people there on that campus, they’re away from home,” Bruner said. “Some of them — there might be a handful — they want a grandparent, or want to start an elderly program, or [want] to tutor, or [want] to do something for the community.”
Horey said the town offers little incentive to people who are interested in investing, given that the main thing Langston has to offer is its land. He recognizes that most students do not plan to stay in town after graduating, and he is concerned that even the hope of urban renewal efforts could eventually diminish the town’s historic culture and community.
“They come in, they take over,” Horey said. “The Black people don’t want to live here, so the white people move in here for the dirt cheap. (…) They let this town go down like it is, then they come back and buy it up for cheap and then build on it. (…) They’re going to make it to where there’s no affordable housing. (…) We know how this plays out. Like I said, I’m talking to these kids more because all you got to do is want to live here.”
The town’s lack of quality-of-life necessities — such as adequate housing, a strong economy, practical grocery options, basic entertainment, and other fundamental aspects of an average college town — deter most students from staying in Langston. Residents acknowledge that people can’t survive in an area without such necessities, but those necessities cannot be produced and maintained without people. The dilemma involves deciding the best way to bolster both community retention and economic growth in order to preserve and grow the historic community.
Horey said he believes it’s not too late to salvage the town of Langston, but that will only be possible with intentional collaboration between the town and the university. To that end, during the Sept. 12 conversation between students and town residents, both groups agreed the community would benefit from an advisory board that includes Langston residents, students, administrators and municipal leaders.
Although no such advisory board has been created yet, Horey said he has been acting as a liaison between the town and university students at Langston City Hall.
This week, Bruner is helping to organize a meet-and-greet with Langston University President Ruth Ray Jackson as a collaborative effort between the town of Langston, the Langston Chamber of Commerce and other entities. Set for 3 p.m. Wednesday, Nov. 13, at the Ballard’s Bed and Breakfast and Event Center on the southeast edge of Lake Langston, the town plans to present Jackson with a key to the city. The event maintains a tradition between the town and the university, and Bruner said she hopes it will allow more local residents to get to know the new university president, who faces a host of campus challenges already.
Langston Board of Trustees meetings are held on the second Thursday of every month, and the next meeting is set for 6 p.m. Thursday, Nov. 14, at city hall. Meeting notices and board agendas, however, are not posted on the City of Langston website, which is largely out of date and provides limited information for students looking to learn about the town’s government.
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‘It was chaotic’: Huge spring party spurred ordinance
Toward the end of the 2024 spring semester, the disconnect between the town and university culminated in an out-of-control party involving hundreds of students. The new ordinance prohibiting parties in city limits was put into place following the event.
“It was 700 people,” said Langston Mayor Michael Boyles. “There were three of my police on duty that night. They were outnumbered. They were overwhelmed. (…) [The students] wouldn’t even listen to any command that was given to them. The fire marshal was being ignored. He was saying that they were over capacity because there were 700 people just outside [of the building].”
Fewer than 1,700 people reside in the town of Langston, according to the U.S. Census Bureau. The town’s subsequently low sales tax base results in limited reliable law enforcement in Langston city limits, according to Boyles.
“The police officers that were there, they were surrounded by everybody,” Boyles said. “They had to call all the officers that they could. Guthrie, 12 miles away, only had two officers that they could send. Highway patrol had a few officers that they could send. The sheriff’s department only had two officers that they could send. They had less than 10 officers, and nobody was missing. (…) It was chaotic.”
Unaware of the new town ordinance this fall, students scheduled an Aug. 8 “Thirsty Thursday” party, a longstanding weekly tradition among Langston students normally held at various locations in the town. The Aug. 8 event was being hosted in the parking lot and surrounding areas of a local beauty supply store called Lions Mane. Once students began to arrive, they were met by both city and campus police officers, who shut down the event. Langston Chief of Police Jay Hill revealed the news of the ordinance to attendees, according to Langston nursing student London Brookins.
On Sept. 9, Lowery, along with Langston SGA Vice President Élise Thompson and student activities coordinator Terrance Keys, met with Boyles and Hill to discuss the city’s perspective and reasoning behind the ordinance.
“Their perspective is, whenever we have large gatherings like that, it can get up to about a thousand people, and they only have so many officers here because it is a small town. So, they don’t get as much funding,” Thompson said. “Then, there’s a lot of elderly people that live there as well. And (…) people have kids and things like that. And then, with the events being on a Thursday, kids have school in the morning.”
Langston does not have its own school district, leaving families to enroll their children in the public school district in Coyle, a neighboring town just east, or commute the 12 miles down Highway 33 to Guthrie Public Schools. Coyle and Langston have been intertwined over the years, with public service agreements and political dynamics proving complicated over the years.
Thompson said Langston student government leaders understand the town’s concerns and have worked to relay them to university students in hopes of improving relationships.
Although there has been no progress on the idea of a resident and university community advisory board, Lowery attended the Langston Board of Trustees meeting Oct. 10 and said residents there spoke about trying to plan events to bring the town and the university together.
“Toward the end of the meeting, some of the town’s members were saying how they want to get with (…) students and start planning events,” Lowery said. “Like a kickball game or have a yard function — like a Black family reunion type of thing.”
This year, Langston University’s annual homecoming ran from Oct. 13 through Oct. 19, culminating with a tailgate and homecoming football game. Traditionally, the student activities board hosts anywhere from one to three events daily for students to participate in, but with the cancellation of “Thirsty Thursday” — later renamed “Turn Up Thursday” to eliminate the implications of students drinking on a dry campus — Lowery predicts students will be looking for events to participate in.
“[Students have] been saying how they want to have something fun to do,” Lowery said. “After homecoming week, there is a little dry spell, so there might not be any on-campus events to have fun at all. I most definitely see the students being willing to find some type of way to have that fun [by] going off-campus and having that relationship with the town of Langston.”
Lowery also said the police officers who attended the Oct. 10 meeting acknowledged and voiced their appreciation toward the students improving their communication with local law enforcement. While the ordinance still stands, Lowery believes the conversations with town leaders have been a step in the right direction.
“It wasn’t really about a lift (of the ordinance),” Lowery said. “Toward the end, they weren’t talking about a lift per se, but basically trying to have things to where we can eventually get to that lift.”
(Correction: This article was updated at 8:27 p.m. Monday, Nov. 11, to correct reference to Langston’s geographical location.)
