Fellow Tigers:
Welcome back to Tigertown! How wonderful everyone must feel to walk in Trustee Park, anticipate Saturdays in Death Valley and fall in love with the sunsets over Lake Hartwell.
If you are a freshman, welcome to the Clemson Family! We at The Tiger hope to accompany you every step along the way during your four (or more!) short years. In the ubiquitous words of Robert Baden-Powell, the founder of The Scout Association: “Leave this world a little better than you found it.” I implore each and every 3,600 of you to take his quote to heart. Look at how our great university developed over the past 128 years and take a moment to ask yourself what you can do to make Clemson, your community, and the world a better place.
If you are a sophomore or junior, continue this challenge you are responsible for with alacrity! In my humble perspective, these are the most formative years for the individual, but perhaps I am a bit biased as I fall in the latter group. Regardless, the time is ticking! We must work with expediency.
If you are a senior (or super-senior or super-super-senior), take this time to reflect on your accomplishments, impart some wisdom on the incoming class, and make your last lap count. Soon enough, you will be talking about the time you were a Clemson student!
It is my distinct pleasure to serve as the Outlook Editor at The Tiger for the 2017-2018 school year. I’m a junior finance and construction science and management double major from Spotsylvania, Virginia (per the compulsory introduction in every ice breaker). As the Outlook Editor, I can promise you a few things from the Outlook section this year:
• Pensive, intrepid, and inspiring articles focused on complicated topics we all face as collegiate students.
• Evidence to shore all assertions.
• Transparency with the Clemson community and inclusion for all its members.
• Assiduity to the wants and needs of the Clemson community.
• An open-door policy.
• No mud-slinging, he-said, she-said, I-hate-Trump, I-love-Trump, gossip-filled, under-researched sorry excuse for journalism.
• Overly complicated vocabulary — it makes us all better readers!
• And lastly: integrity, honesty and respect.
I can only hope to reach every single member of the Clemson community.
In some shape or form, I hope to make you challenge your beliefs, dig deep into the roots of philosophy, politics, morality, religion, economics and identity, and provide a platform of civil discourse and learning. It is the duty of the University, and by extension The Tiger, to expose each member of the Clemson community to new thoughts and expressions to create thoughtful global leaders. Inasmuch as this is the case, from time to time we may feature writing certain individuals or groups may feel overly polemical, grisly, chauvinist, bilious or the like. If you or the group you represent feel so, I offer the Outlook section to you or your group as a platform for discourse — I’ll just turn happy to glad in your submissions and sit back with a bag of popcorn!
I hope the Outlook section and The Tiger as a whole can help contribute to making the Clemson experience better for everyone. We welcome contributions from all and would be happy to feature an article you feel critical to the Clemson community.
And to all of you — student, faculty, staff, administration, citizen and beyond — have a wonderful year and, go Tigers!
For Clemson,
Elijah D. Gregory, Outlook Editor