Former Clemson players DeAndre Hopkins and Deshaun Watson are petitioning the university to remove the name of John C. Calhoun from the school's honors college, with Hopkins noting that the slave owner's influence is the reason he does not mention the university's name when he's introduced before NFL games.
Calhoun, who served as vice president under John Quincy Adams from 1825 to 1829, advocated for slavery, saying it was "a positive good." The Clemson campus is built on Calhoun's Fort Hill Plantation, where, according to his bio on the school's website, he enslaved 70-80 African Americans.
"I felt this oppressive figure during my time at Clemson and purposely do not mention the University's name before NFL games because of it," Hopkins wrote on Instagram.