Thursday, Feb. 5, shots were fired on University of South Carolina’s main campus. While this echoed around universities across South Carolina, the only sound heard at Furman was silence.

On Feb. 6, Clemson’s students responded by wearing garnet and black, USC’s school colors, and yakked #TwoSchoolsOneState. USC had done the same for Clemson when Clemson student Tucker Hipps was found dead–they wore orange, Clemson’s school color. Yet at Furman, students attended class on Friday dressed in normal attire, many not even aware of what had happened. Furman’s YikYak and other social media pages stayed silent.

Furman students are constantly criticized for being in a bubble, for not leaving the safety of campus, yet this incident shows that Furman’s bubble filters what information gets in and matters to us, if any at all.

The shooting at USC affects Furman just as much as it affected Clemson. Many students are from the state of South Carolina and have friends who attend USC. Many professors have received their Masters degree from the state and have colleagues who work at USC. Some may even have known the passed Dr. Raja Fayad. Furman is housed within the same state, a mere 110 miles away. Why are we not wearing garnet and black? Why are we not publishing official statements indicating our remorse for what happened? Why are we not even talking about it?

FUPO announced that it would provide a class on how to react to a theoretical active shooter on campus, but has yet to address the Furman community of the precautions that would take place if a similar situation occured on or near Furman’s campus.

Furman, like Clemson, is a separate school from USC. But we are also within one state. Why are we not standing in solidarity for USC? Why are we not #TwoSchoolsOneState?