Hey everyone, I was just getting ready for the evening when my roommate told me to check the Dallas News website. Disturbingly enough, the first thing that showed up read, "SMU Student Found Dead in Former Fraternity House". I've posted a link to the article that I read right here. In lamen's terms a sophomore named Joseph Hunter Green was found dead in the KA house just this afternoon Friday. Autopsy begins tomorrow and I'm sure the rest of the school will be notified about the loss.
The first question that comes to mind when I read this article was... What was a student, a non fraternity student, doing in the now kicked off campus KA house? I understand that Students live there in transition to getting into residents hall, but dead? WTF? Post your thoughts on my blog and any guesses as to how and why he died? Thanks!
-Snabes
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I won't make any conjectures about the cause of death, but I do hope that it does not turn out to be similar in nature to the three deaths of the year before last. The media loves stories that tarnish the image of SMU. Even this Dallas Morning News story about what happened on Friday did not need to go into sordid detail about the history of the Kappa Alpha house. Totally not relevant unless the writers' aim was to insinuate that Friday's death was due to alcohol abuse even before the toxicology results.
ReplyDeleteI also wrote a post about the death on campus. The last house on frat row, which used to be the KA house, is now called SMU House and is a dormitory. So the reason he was found there is because he lives there. From what I have been reading online, public knowledge is that his death is unexplainable. In the past few days more information has come out in the news and the student’s father is a famous golfer and that the death may have been a suicide.
ReplyDeleteI really wish the university was doing more to publicize the death and tell students exactly where they need to go to get help if they you are in a similar situation, who to go to if your friend is in a similar situation or if you need to talk to someone about the death.
Going along with Christine, I wish that the University would notify students before we learn about it from others. I personally learned about the death from my parents. It was not only surprising but also rather frightening, to know that the University didn't see it fit to notify the student body immediately.
ReplyDeleteI agree with all of the above posts. First, I too do not understand why the media has it out for SMU. I think it was totally unnecessary to include this section:
ReplyDelete"SMU cited repeated violations of rules against serving alcohol to minors and of a new rule requiring campus organizations to notify the university before having an off-campus party. An unregistered party prompted university officials to kick the chapter off campus because it already was in trouble for previous infractions".
Why couldn't they have left it by simply saying that "Kappa Alpha was suspended from the SMU campus last year and cannot reorganize until the 2011-12 school year". Rather than point out how tragic the situation is the article makes a point of recounting the former frat house's checkered past.
Second, I agree that the university should improve its communication and that news of a fellow student's death should come from the school not the city news.
I am furthermore disappointed in the SMU PD's report. When they first released the report they said it was alcohol related. These accusations are ridiculous. Personally I believe it was a suicide, I've heard from other students on campus that he suffered depression, to what severity? I'm not entirely sure. I think that it would be a good thing if SMU PD held on their remarks before they report it was alcohol related.
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