Dear Clemson:
The tragedy at Virginia Tech has touched all of us at Clemson. We are sister land-grant schools and sister ACC schools. Those of us on the Clemson campus want to help in some way in this tragedy. Our campus is responding in a number of ways from offering grief counseling from our counseling center to offers of assistance from my office to President Steger’s office at Virginia Tech. Student leaders are planning activities as a show of sympathy and support for our friends and colleagues in Blacksburg. We will find additional ways to offer comfort in the days ahead.
There is one thing we can do today. At 2 p.m. on the Virginia Tech campus there will be a gathering of faculty, staff and students at Cassell Coliseum to begin the collective grieving process.
I ask that you pause for one moment at 2 p.m. today, wherever you are, and quietly join the Clemson Family with the Virginia Tech Family. My hope is that this individual and collective act on our campus will be of some comfort to the faculty, staff and students at Virginia Tech.
We also are responding to the needs of our own community. We are evaluating and reviewing all of our own security and communications systems in light of these devastating events. Faculty are engaging students in class discussions. Many of us have friends, colleagues, former students or even family members at Virginia Tech. If you or someone you know would benefit from counseling or university outreach, help is available through the Dean of Students (joy@clemson.edu) or Counseling and Psychological Services (rcontre@clemson.edu).
Thank you.
James F. Barker, FAIAPresident