As you read this, you are no doubt busy preparing for final exams – just as Jake Stiles was a year ago. It is hard to believe that one year ago, after Jake enjoyed Thanksgiving dinner with his mother, father and sister, and having returned to Dallas to prepare for final exams, I would receive a call telling me that he had died.
The mere thought of that phone call still haunts me. I try to push aside the memory and replace it with happier ones. Believe it or not, I can still remember where I was when I received the call that announced Jake’s birth. I remember with the highest admiration the bond between Jake and his sister. His parents fostered that bond from infancy. His mother is one of those rare friends in life that you look up to and admire. Most importantly, you know that she walks with the grace of our Lord. She is that one friend in your life who you want to emulate.
That is why it is so incomprehensible to me that an institution like Southern Methodist University has not only turned its back on the Stiles family and Jake’s memory, but has also turned its back on the very principles the university was founded upon almost 100 years ago by the United Methodist Church: “The people of the United Methodist Church believe in open hearts, open minds and open doors.”
As a student – or parent, alumnus or faculty member – why should you care, especially a year later? You should care because something terribly wrong happened and nothing has been done to bring about the truth behind Jake’s death.
It would be a mistake to think this cannot happen again, or that it cannot happen to you or to your son or daughter. The administration is more concerned with image, money and a presidential library than it is with the death of one of its students, Jake Stiles.
An SMU mother wrote in the comments section on the Task Force on Substance Abuse Web site, “When my first year called yesterday and told me they thought they’d been drugged the night before, my first reaction was that I wanted to yank my student out of SMU.” Unfortunately, the Stiles family can’t take their son out of SMU, but they certainly wish they had. You can!
As a parent, ask yourself this, “If my child died, wouldn’t I want to know what happened?” If someone was responsible for your child’s death, wouldn’t you want that person to be held accountable? That’s all the Stiles family is asking, as any loving family would.
“While the university is nonsectarian in its teaching, it is said to be committed to the freedom of inquiry.” These words appear on SMU’s Web site. However, SMU does not live up to its own declarations. The philosophy and purpose of the university’s judicial code states, “The judiciary is more in the nature of a community seeking to learn if error has occurred and, if so, deciding how best to act so that in the future there will be less error.”
The death of not one but three students within the past year cannot be deemed “isolated instances.” These deaths represent the very worst that any educational institution can and should endure. However, SMU’s judicial council, along with the president and the board of trustees, has failed miserably in upholding its own code. They have not sought to learn the truth behind the deaths of these students nor acted to avoid future deaths. If they had, the Dallas police would have been immediately invited and urged to find out what happened to Jake. If they know the truth and fail to share it, they again fail the community.
SMU’s current administration and police department are the epitome of hypocrisy and pretense. Each and every one of SMU’s students deserves the respect begotten from open hearts, open minds and open doors. Especially our sweet Jake.
Jenny Artuso
(Jake’s “Aunt Jenny”)
