Alexandra O'Dell
The United States has seen numerous tragedies in recent weeks that bring students' safety into question.
These past few weeks have been incredibly heavy for citizens of the United States. It seems like every time you check social media or turn on the news, yet another person has died.
Close to home at the University of South Carolina in Columbia, SC, students bore witness to a ‘swatting’ hoax on Aug. 25. The hoax reported gunfire at the university’s campus library via two mysterious phone calls from an unknown man. Although there was no active shooter on campus, two students were injured in the process of evacuation.
Annunciation Catholic School in Minneapolis, Minnesota, experienced a shooting through the church’s windows during a Catholic Mass on Aug. 27, killing two children and wounding 14 other children and three parishioners.
Another shooter severely wounded two students at Evergreen High School in Evergreen, Colorado, on Sept. 10; that same afternoon, Charlie Kirk was assassinated.
The conservative activist and founder of Turning Point USA was in the middle of debating college students at Utah Valley University when he was shot in the neck and killed.
That same week, the United States mourned the 24th anniversary of the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks.
I’m unable to fathom the horror and fear that I can assume anyone who’s ever experienced, or lost loved ones to, a shooting or tragedy has felt. While the University of South Carolina incident turned out to be fraudulent, I can only imagine those students’ trauma from that hour and a half they feared losing their lives.
As I hope they would for anyone else, these events scare me — any of these incidents could have just as easily happened at Clemson.
It’s important to ask ourselves whether the impact of these recent tragedies should inspire any action from the University. Does it mean increasing campus safety with armed officers? Implementing gun safety and active shooter guidelines in classes? Or will we just continue on like nothing happened?
Kirk came to Clemson in 2021 as a part of his Exposing Critical Racism Tour. Riley Gaines Barker, another conservative activist and a close friend of Kirk’s, has spoken on campus several times. Francis Fukuyama, political scientist and scholar, visited in October of 2024. Should we, as students, be concerned for our safety every time a political speaker visits? And should these speakers be frightened for their lives?
Maybe I’m just a 19-year-old college student reaching for answers to questions we should never have to ask. But I urge you to do your research. Look at the bigger picture. Political polarization and division in our country, including Clemson, have wrenched us apart — all because people on opposite sides of the political spectrum don’t seem to respect and love each other as we should.
In the midst of this unrest, uncertainty and violence, I urge you to hold your loved ones extra tight. I urge the University to consider increasing campus safety measures. I urge you to search for the truth and do your research. Lastly, I urge you to cherish every single person at our beloved University — even those you may not agree with.
Kat Pugh is a junior English major from Clayton, California. Kat can be reached at [email protected].