There is a campus wide issue that many TCU students have been carelessly overlooking and needs to be put to an end. Of course I am speaking of the mistreatment of the clown exchange students TCU has recently received. These new students were seen on a Monday night heading back to their dorms after a night class and upon greeting fellow students they were treated with fear and hostility. As we all know clowns do not have high self-esteem, and the fact that students are treating them as unequal should be unsettling. Many of you have probably heard of the ridiculous fear mongering over the clown sightings across the country, but Horned Frogs should be above this. Solely focusing on our own campus, the injustice to our fellow clown students has even gone to the campus police station with multiple students calling the police after these sightings.
Sources report that shortly after the harassment of the clown students Monday night, Student Affairs issued a statement saying that any clown sighting should be reported to the police. It is disappointing to see our police station treating these students so unfairly. Is this any way to make our new students feel welcome? This promotes the close minded view that people have a choice to wear a clown suit. I interviewed one student clown, who will be named Steve, and he shared his fear. “Frankly, I am scared to even go to class. People have been so uncivil to me I am starting to feel like TCU is not the school for me, I’m already looking to transfer back to TCC [Texas Clown College].” We should know better. We should be better. We should be aware that clowns are people too, they were born that way and to single them out for the way they look or any cultural differences they may have is unfair on our part. They are not here to prank or scare us, and for us to judge their cultural norms makes us the bad guys.
I went to meet up with a second clown, her name was Mildred. The first thing I noticed upon meeting Mildred was that she had perfect posture, her feet looked much smaller than usual and she was able to walk straight. Someone had taken Mildred’s shoes and left her ones that were a perfect fit. “I don’t feel complete”, Mildred said, “I don’t feel whole, I’m being made into something I’m not”. Truly a tragedy. I asked if she had been harassed by police like many of her fellow clowns. “Yes, I was carrying my walking axe on my way to class, like I do every morning, and I was stopped by an officer. He asked me what the axe was for. I told him I was just trying to get to class and that’s when he ticketed me for disrupting the peace”. This is shocking stuff, right here in our own backyard we see corruption and injustice. As I left Mildred that day it pained me to hear such a sad honk in each of her sniffles.
Clowns have a hard enough time fitting into society and they are great students here at TCU. For example, every student is aware of the parking problem but clowns are great commuters. Eight, ten, even twelve clowns can all fit in one car and take up a 12th of the space the average student does. If we could be more like them we could potentially solve all the parking problems on campus. But enough about the commuter clowns, the clowns right here on campus are just as efficient. All students have probably seen the bulky bicycles that take up so much space at the bike rack. Well, the clowns have solved that problem too. Unicycles are wonderful inventions, half the size of a bike with all the same mobility and clowns pride themselves on the mastery of these unique, and much more effective, methods of transportation. These are just reminders that there is a lot to learn from our clown brothers and sisters. TCU prides itself on the diversity of its students so please join me in following that belief. Next time you see one of our few clown students, take a moment to hear them out. You may even find a new friend and learn something about another culture that is far different than our own. We are a community, we are all Horned Frogs, and that is no joke.