Miller Hoffman wakes up before sunrise each morning. The student senator has 8 a.m. classes each day, so he’s on the move early. Usually these mornings are pretty ritualistic. However, three weeks ago, Hoffman was hit with something that threw his day, and the last few weeks, into a spin.
Hoffman says he first became aware of the allegations against Stewart on Oct. 3, when several of his constituents sent him an article from FITSNews. The article contained a copy of a Clemson University incident report form that detailed several allegations against Stewart.
Hoffman said that he was somewhat skeptical originally of the claims made in the news article.
“Senate leadership discussed many options we had,” Hoffman said. “I can safely say this was not the most desirable method of going about handling this, but I believe it’s the right way to do it considering the circumstances.”
Ever since he first introduced the articles of impeachment, Hoffman has been the subject of numerous claims that he’s racist. Hoffman has vehemently denied these claims.
“I think I’ve been portrayed unfairly,” Hoffman said. “It’s easy to say this is about race or the pledge protests. That’s not the person I am or was raised to be.”
Hoffman was raised in Rock Hill, South Carolina. He said he had a good childhood and described his family as not rich, but that he hadn’t wanted for anything.
“The two most important values I was taught was work ethic and responsibility. I was taught that excuses are just reasons for not being successful,” he said. “I can’t thank [my parents] enough for instilling values in me from a very young age. I always try to treat people with respect and get along with anyone.”
Hoffman credits his philosophy of work ethic and responsibility for many of his accomplishments, but he believes the root of his success goes back to his own upbringing. He carried this philosophy and values to Clemson and CUSG.
Hoffman says that his “Clemson story is kind of cliché.”
“I knew as soon as I stepped off the bus during a high school field trip to colleges in SC. It felt like home and the atmosphere was immediately attractive to me,” he said. “I love our school spirit and how we all have the common goal of pulling for the Tigers. I definitely made the correct decision [coming here].”
After staying in Clemson for some time and loving the atmosphere of the community, Hoffman says he decided he wanted to give back by getting involved in CUSG.
“I knew I wanted to give back to Clemson in some way, shape or form from the very beginning,” he said. “I love being a representative of the students here. I am fortunate to have been a members of CUSG since my freshman year, and I plan to continue my involvement.”
Hoffman says that while he keeps “up-to-date with politics on a federal and state level,” he doesn’t feel like he’s “a politician right now.”
“My goal is to do the best [thing] for Clemson students regardless of political background,” he said.
Hoffman has held various positions in CUSG. During the 2016-17 academic year, he was a member of the F&P Committee, a regular member of the Student Activity Funding Board and a liaison for the Election Board.
Today, he serves as the chairman of the Finance and Procedures (F&P) committee and continues to be involved with Funding Board and other CUSG and student organization related financial matters. It was with this chairman position that Hoffman introduced the allegations against Stewart to the F&P committee and the articles of impeachment to the Senate body.
“I knew I had to move to introduce [the articles] when I asked myself ‘Is this the right thing to do?’” he said. “Aside from all the current and potential ramifications, it’s always the right time to do the right thing. I firmly believe that to my core. It was and is incredibly hard. I never wanted to be in this circumstance, but I am confident that this is now necessary in order to come to an educated resolution.”
Hoffman says he hopes that Senate can ultimately come up to a decision that leads to “the betterment of our student body.”
“There’s no excuse for keeping student representatives in the dark about this,” he said. “I hope by handling this in a respectful and procedural way we’ll come to the best decision that we can one way or another.”