Without a doubt, the past few days here at Carolina have been the most chaotic and unsettling days probably within school history.
The murder of one of our fellow professors was a tragic event that shocked us Gamecocks to the core. No one went to campus last Thursday thinking there would be potential danger. It’s during the dark times when support is the strongest and when love is felt.
Support came from all over the country with the hashtag #PrayforUSC that was trending all over Facebook, Instagram and Twitter. Clemson University reached out and trended the hashtag #2schools1state.
Clemson hasn’t had the best year, either. When students who attended Clemson passed away, Carolina gave love and support all the way from Columbia.
It’s not just a rivalry. This state is both of our homes. No matter what the sports records say, we are the other’s shoulder to cry on.
That’s the great thing about the Carolina-Clemson rivalry. When it comes to being serious and not about who won a football game, we are there for each other.
The love and prayers spread further than South Carolina. Yik Yak made their opening banner a garnet screen with “Forever to Thee” written across the top.
Peeking at other schools and seeing almost all support for our home was a feeling hard to describe. It’s a mixture of thankfulness and sadness.
Having the support is like having the good with the bad. But the fact that there was a tragedy that made nationwide news is unsettling. Someone lost a friend and students lost a mentor.
Our university couldn’t have handled the situation any better than they did. The USC Police Department responded as soon as a call was made.
SLED had an iron grip on crisis management and followed all the procedures for clearing the building. Even the local news stations and newspapers were outstanding about getting information out to unaware students.
President Pastides released a statement regarding the situation when more information was confirmed instead of having a press release as soon as possible with iffy details.
An event like this can happen at any college campus, but one never really expects it to be at your college campus. The university wants to remind everyone of the counseling center that is open and welcomes anyone who needs help in the healing process of this event.
Mourning has to happen before our Gamecock family can rise from this unfortunate event. Thoughts and prayers are with everyone who was impacted.