Tribeca: Eric & Linda Oakes Talk Sharing Son Adam’s Story in “4000 Days”
Daniel E Catullo III’s documentary, 4000 Days, chronicles the fight of three families who lost their sons to fraternity hazing. The film’s title comes from the journey of the families, all united by the loss of their sons. The 4000 days symbolize “the number of days it took to turn grief into action, then grief into law.” 4000 Days will premiere at the Tribeca Film Festival on Wednesday, June 10, at 5:30 PM at the Village East by Angelika theater as part of the Spotlight Documentary section.
Adam Oakes had a smile that could light up a room. Even seeing it through pictures, there’s a warmth that transcends the still image. By every account, Adam was kind, someone who had a tight-knit group of friends who called themselves “the boys.” After high school, Adam went to Virginia Commonwealth University. Like most freshmen, he was craving the close friends he had back home and thought he might find that again in Delta Chi. The morning after Big Night, Adam was found unresponsive due to alcohol overdose.
Together with the DeVercellys and Burch families, Eric and Linda Oakes agreed to be part of Catullo III’s documentary, 4000 Days, to chronicle their fight for the Stop Campus Hazing Act to be codified into law.
I want to start with your relationship with Daniel. Before 4000 Days, he’d made Death of a Pledge: The Adam Oakes Story. What about Daniel and his approach made you feel he was the right person to tell Adam’s story?
Eric Oakes: That documentary, that’s the one we show the students. It’s about 22 minutes long. When we do in-person presentations, whether it’s in high schools or colleges, we show that video.
I mean, you’ve met Dan. You can tell he’s driven by his passion. We’ve been approached by other studios. They said, we want to cover your son’s story, and you just know that it’s more of an entertainment factor rather than somebody who really cares, in my opinion.
I think Dan’s passion and how he’s driven stands out. He was a Greek member and he’s disgusted with what’s happening right now. There seem to be no changes. People aren’t changing their ways. He really wants to see awareness brought to the problem that is plaguing our campuses.
Was there anything different about making 4000 Days as opposed to the short film? Anything that was maybe a little easier or more difficult in doing this longer documentary?
EO: The only thing I can think of is that you have to get miked up again [laughs]. Once the first one was done, I mean, you knew what was coming and what to expect. There was no difference for us. We’d do it again if called upon.
And Linda, any difference for you?
Linda Oakes: Not really.
EO: Just to watch your language [laughs].
LO: Dan and his whole team, there’s something about them that comforts me. I know they want to do absolutely anything that can get a story out, and that’s most important to me as well, to spread awareness. No more dead children, please.
Photo Courtesy of 10 Lives Studios.
I imagine it’s difficult to have to do interviews like this and talk about the film, as important as it is. How are you taking care of yourselves? Are you leaning on the other parents who are in the film or that you’ve come to know?
EO: We definitely have a really good network of, unfortunately, families who have similarly lost their sons in fraternity hazing. We have our family members. We definitely lean on each other when we’re grieving. Some days you have good days, and some days are not so good.
I looked at the Love Like Adam Foundation website, and it is such an impressive source of education, resources, and support. Could you talk a little about that foundation and some of the most rewarding connections or reactions you’ve gotten from people who have used your resources.
EO: Thank you so much, I really appreciate that. We work very hard. My niece, Courtney White, is the president. She gathered a group of educators. We had military members, athletes, fraternity and sorority members, and different groups of people create a curriculum about hazing prevention.
Last year, the state of Virginia passed a law that requires either 9th or 10th graders to have hazing prevention education. What’s built into that law is questions on the Standards of Learning exam, so they really have to cover it.
We do presentations in high schools and in colleges. Our hope is that when we reinforce the messaging, they really hear it. We’d love to start at middle school, but if you hear it continually throughout high school, by the time you get into college you start to think, I remember hazing and I don’t like this. I don’t want to put myself through this. I’m going to say, no, I don’t want to do it, I don’t want to participate. If you’re a Greek member and somebody comes into your organization and wants to haze pledges or something, you can stand up and say, no, I’m not doing that, we’re not about that.
We also do scholarships. This year, in honor of the fifth year of our foundation and the fifth year of Adam’s passing, we awarded ten scholarships, $2,000 each, to different students in the state of Virginia. We make them write an essay of a trait they have similar to Adam, and then we all read and vote on them. It’s really nice to hear the good that people are doing.
Photo Courtesy of 10 Lives Studios.
I hadn’t known about the change in the Virginia school system. That’s incredible.
EO: It’s the only one in the country that has it. It’s just started this year. With those students, even if they don’t go to a Virginia college, they still carry that message with them wherever they go.
What was that process like? How long were you going and lobbying with the representatives in Virginia?
EO: Courtney White, our president, she gathered all the largest county representatives. Fairfax, Loudoun, Prince William Counties are some of the larger ones. We had their support, and we asked them to testify.
It’s taught in health or P.E. and a lot of the health teachers are saying they already have too much to teach, but now that it’s baked into the Standards of Learning, they have to teach it. They need to carve out some time somewhere to teach the lessons. We already knew a lot of the people we had to get onboard because of Adam’s Law.
Adam’s Law was a lot of give and take because it used to be this big bill and then it got shrunk down. You have to play the game. There are a few things in Adam’s Law we’d love to go back and get changed. Add some reinforcement, make it a little bit stronger.
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