Clemson’s First Friday Parade, an annual event used to bring the community together, is now sparking debate across campus in light of allegations of plagiarism and appropriation of the See The Stripes campaign.

The theme of this year’s parade is “The Stripes That Make a Tiger.” In a news release announcing the parade theme, the university says “Just as a tiger is not complete without its stripes, the Clemson family is not complete without the diverse experiences and contributions of students and alumni.”

The language in the news release is similar to that used in Dr. A.D. Carson’s “See The Stripes” poem — and several Clemson community members have taken to social media to point out the similarities.

“This sounds just like “See the Stripes” but with slightly different words,” tweeted @ericathurman. “Would this pass the plagiarism test in one of your classes?”

See The Stripes was started in August 2014 as a “campaign to help raise awareness within the general student population about commonly overlooked contributions to Clemson University’s history,” according to A.D. Carson’s website. See The Stripes is best known for the nine-day long Sikes Sit-In that occurred during the Spring 2016 semester.

In an email to The Tiger, Phil Sikes, the communications director for Student Affairs, said that this year’s parade theme was selected by a student committee in Central Spirit because “it was thought of as a great way to promote the commitment to inclusive excellence at Clemson and why it plays such a significant role in the life of campus.”

“While we understand parallels could be drawn to A.D. Carson’s “See the Stripes,” it was not a part of the student committee’s discussion as it related to the chosen theme,” Sikes said.

Several Clemson community members have reached out to the university administration about the issue, posting on social media the various responses they received.

In email shared by a Clemson student on social media, Sikes told the student “it certainly seems as though this [Carson’s poem] did in part influence this year’s parade theme,” adding that the language used in the press release was suggested by members of the university’s Campus Life division and that he kept the language intact as he wrote the press release.

“Believe me, I can attest 100% no disrespect was intended in the announcement. I would call it naivety on my part, rather,” Sikes wrote in the email, adding that he is still new to student affairs (Sikes joined the department in 2017) and did not “have any prior knowledge of Dr. Carson or his poetry/campaign.”

In another email, Clemson’s Vice President of Student Affairs, Almeda Jacks said, “the suggestion of the theme came from a person of color” and that “the chair of that student organization and their advisor … did not know or discuss with the Committee the works of AD Carson.”

Carson expressed concern with Jack’s response.

“Attempting to blame this on people who were not at Clemson and didn’t know anything about See The Stripes or the work that I did. And also to say that a person of color was the person who suggested this theme … is … insulting,” Carson said.

Carson told The Tiger that Chris Miller, Clemson’s Dean of Students, reached out to him and left his phone number. When Carson attempted to call that number, he claimed he was connected to a furniture store in Rantoul, Illinois. Carson says he emailed Miller back and told him that the number was incorrect, but that he hasn’t heard back from him.

On Wednesday afternoon, Carson addressed the issue in a post on his website.

“In appropriating the See The Stripes campaign, which called for action to change the conditions at the university, Clemson turned it into an empty slogan, a theme for a parade that signifies they’ve actually taken action and changed those conditions without acknowledging any of the work … of the student activists from whom they borrow the language,” Carson wrote.

Members of the Clemson community are continuing to post about the issue on social media. Some are planning to pass out flyers at the parade about See The Stripes to raise awareness of the campaign and to further its mission of diversity and inclusion on campus.

Carson told The Tiger that he hopes that Clemson students who are fighting for change at the university will continue to do so.

“I would encourage those students to continue to do that work,” Carson said. “And to continue attempting to hold Clemson responsible rather than allowing Clemson to take their efforts and then spin them as PR stunts.”

On Wednesday, Central Spirit tweeted a statement about the parade theme, saying “While the connection to Dr. A.D. Carson’s ‘See The Stripes’ campaign was unintentional, this year’s parade theme exemplifies the good work he and others have done to raise awareness to the importance of inclusive excellence on our campus.”

This is a developing story. At the time of publishing, representatives from Clemson’s administration, as well as Central Spirit board members were contacted for quoting. Please check back for updates.