Sikes Sit In

The Sikes Sit-In is a peaceful sit-in protest at Clemson University, located within and in front of Sikes Hall, an administrative building on campus. The protest began on April 13, 2016 after a sign commemorating African American history at Fort Hill, the plantation house that Clemson's campus is built around, was defaced with racist iconography. Protesters were allowed to remain in the building on the first night, but on April 14, 2016, five students, referred to by news outlets as the Clemson Five, were arrested by campus police for remaining in the building after hours. The protest is closely affiliated with the See the Stripes campaign, which advocates for racial equality on campus, an undoing of the university's whitewashed historical narrative, and the renaming of several buildings on campus, including Tillman Hall, named after white supremacist Benjamin Tillman.