This past March, at the young age of 101, Col. Ben Skardon participated in his 12th Bataan Memorial Death March in New Mexico. A World War II and Korean War Veteran, Col. Skardon walks each year to commemorate his fellow soldiers who didn’t make it back. After his retirement from the Army in 1962, Col. Skardon came back to Clemson and taught English until his retirement in 1985. He is a shining example of what it means to serve your fellow man. He embodies the very best of us. He remains a fixture of Clemson life, attending each semester’s ring ceremony. To honor Col. Skardon’s continued service to Clemson, the least the university can do is rename Tillman Hall in his honor. 

Tillman Hall is currently named for Ben Tillman, a former governor and senator for South Carolina in the late 19th and early 20th century. Tillman was famous for bragging about how he rode and killed African Americans in the Hamburg Massacre near Edgefield, South Carolina in 1876. He was an unabashed white supremacist who defended lynching and even went so far as recounting that the intentions of his actions in 1876 served to “strike terror.” As a human being, I am absolutely horrified that his name remains on the most iconic structure on Clemson’s campus, making some of my fellow students feel unwelcome. It is also perplexing to me that the name still stands, despite Clemson’s website acknowledging that Tillman’s legacy is “complex and often disturbing.” 

For me, the choice is simple; I would rather have Col. Skardon’s extraordinary legacy of service to this university celebrated as opposed to Sen. Tillman’s. It would send the right message that this great institution values service and honor over vile racism and cruelty.