David Boren and the Portrait of George (H.)W. Bush

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Today, I was in the Union looking at pictures of activities on campus in years past. Most of the photos in the Union were taken between the turn of the century and World War II, but they've recently added photos from the modern era. Among them were photos taken 1997 of OU President David Boren and George H.W. Bush at commencement exercises.

Except that the photo's caption read "George W. Bush" rather than "George H.W. Bush". This is a pretty big error.

As I left the Union, I was wondering who one talks to about campus decor. And lo! For the first time in my 4.5 years at OU, I saw David Boren on campus. He was walking out of the building that houses his office toward a car parked on the North Oval.

I approached him, he shook my hand, and I mentioned what I had seen and asked if he might recommend someone I could get in touch with about it.

He told me he was glad that I had mentioned it, and that he would much rather be in a photo with George H.W. Bush than with George W. Bush. I told him I had assumed as much, and he directed me toward the young man who had been standing with him, who is apparently some kind of executive assistant and who assured me he would take care of it.

I went happily about my business at the lab, having made one tiny contribution to OU's campus in my (almost) five years.

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