Spring Break
A bad excuse for bad decisions
George Henson, ghenson@smu.edu
Issue date: 4/4/08 Section: Opinion
In the five years I have taught at SMU, I have been called a lot of things, from "faggot" on down.
One of the least offensive things I've been called is "George," by a student in a column in which he also inelegantly claimed that gays' "flamboyant, in-your-face approach [made him] gag." Perhaps his parents never told him not to call his elders by their first name. Who knows what they told him about gays.
In the last five years, I've been accused of hating SMU, hating football and hating America, none of which is true. I'm sure not a few believe I hate fraternities, especially SAE, neither of which is true.
On the contrary, some of my favorite students at SMU have been members of fraternities. Albino Garces, a member of Lambda Chi Alpha, is one, Brad Bandel from Kappa Sigma another. Jonathan Purdy of Phi Delta Theta is another.
I had the privilege of having Mr. Purdy in two classes. Yes, some students actually do take more than one of my classes. One actually took four. Talk about glutton for punishment.
I met Mr. Purdy as a bright-eyed, enthusiastic, if not a little naive, first year. I witnessed him struggle through his pledgeship his second semester, struggling to keep his eyes open in my 9 a.m. class, the result of sleep deprivation and God only knows what kind of hazing. He never complained. Occasionally I saw him on campus during his sophomore and junior years. Last semester, he stopped to tell me he had gotten a job in advance of graduation. I told him I was proud of him. And I am.
There are other fraternity men whom I have had the honor of knowing and teaching, some of which I am teaching now. I won't embarrass them by naming them here.
I also had the honor of knowing Jake Stiles, if only briefly. Jake was a student in my Advanced Spanish Grammar class during his freshman year. He dropped the class in the middle of the semester. I never knew why. And although I knew him for only a few weeks, I remember him as well as I remember the young men I mentioned above. Not because he was the best student in the class. Not because he was gregarious or outgoing. That wasn't the Jake I knew. The Jake I knew was quiet. Respectful.
One of the least offensive things I've been called is "George," by a student in a column in which he also inelegantly claimed that gays' "flamboyant, in-your-face approach [made him] gag." Perhaps his parents never told him not to call his elders by their first name. Who knows what they told him about gays.
In the last five years, I've been accused of hating SMU, hating football and hating America, none of which is true. I'm sure not a few believe I hate fraternities, especially SAE, neither of which is true.
On the contrary, some of my favorite students at SMU have been members of fraternities. Albino Garces, a member of Lambda Chi Alpha, is one, Brad Bandel from Kappa Sigma another. Jonathan Purdy of Phi Delta Theta is another.
I had the privilege of having Mr. Purdy in two classes. Yes, some students actually do take more than one of my classes. One actually took four. Talk about glutton for punishment.
I met Mr. Purdy as a bright-eyed, enthusiastic, if not a little naive, first year. I witnessed him struggle through his pledgeship his second semester, struggling to keep his eyes open in my 9 a.m. class, the result of sleep deprivation and God only knows what kind of hazing. He never complained. Occasionally I saw him on campus during his sophomore and junior years. Last semester, he stopped to tell me he had gotten a job in advance of graduation. I told him I was proud of him. And I am.
There are other fraternity men whom I have had the honor of knowing and teaching, some of which I am teaching now. I won't embarrass them by naming them here.
I also had the honor of knowing Jake Stiles, if only briefly. Jake was a student in my Advanced Spanish Grammar class during his freshman year. He dropped the class in the middle of the semester. I never knew why. And although I knew him for only a few weeks, I remember him as well as I remember the young men I mentioned above. Not because he was the best student in the class. Not because he was gregarious or outgoing. That wasn't the Jake I knew. The Jake I knew was quiet. Respectful.
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Bob
posted 4/04/08 @ 9:49 AM CST
Reposted from a response to a similar article in the Dallas Observer. I happen to agree with this all the points in it so im reposting it here
"I know who supplied Jacob Stiles with the drugs. (Continued…)
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