Alshon Jeffery Supports Name Change of USC Building

The building is on the campus of his former school, the University of South Carolina, and it is called the Strom Thurmond Wellness and Fitness Center

Eagles receiver Alshon Jeffery is following in the footsteps of DeShaun Watson and DeAndre Hopkins and trying to get a building on the campus of the University of South Carolina renamed.

The story was first reported by SI.com’s AllClemson publisher, Zach Lentz, and can be found here:

/college/clemson/football/south-carolina-gamecocks-alshon-jeffrey-marcus-lattimore-name-change

Alshon Jeffery sent out a tweet on Wednesday aiming to have South Carolina change the name of the school’s Wellness and Fitness Center, which is named for Strom Thurmond.

The tweet went like this: “To celebrate well-known segregationist Strom Thurmond’s legacy by keeping his name on our Wellness Center sends a contradicting message to our black students @UofSC. We can no longer be held back by those whose ideals represent division. We must continue the fight for equality.”

As Lentz points out, Thurmond has a controversial past regarding racial issues. He served in the South Carolina Senate for almost five decades and attempted a run for president in 1948 on. Platform that opposed integration. Thurmond was also opposed to the Civil Rights Act in 1964.

There are about 15,000 signatures on a petition at the moment, but, according to The State newspaper in Columbia, S.C., the school is resisting the name change at this time.

Watson and Hopkins’ voices were heard at Clemson, where the school’s honor college will no longer bear the name of John C. Calhoun, who was a slave owner and secessionist whose plantation became Clemson University.

That petition had roughly 20,000 signatures.

Another building at Clemson, known as Tillman Hall, is being petitioned for a name change back to its original name, Old Main.

Benjamin "Pitchfork" Tillman was a governor and white supremacist.

According to The Greenville News in Greenville, S.C., the petition to change the name will be heard in 2021.

In other Jeffery news on Thursday, the Eagles receiver is weight training without restrictions in the midwest, per ESPN’s Tim McManus. Jeffery is expected to be running soon after having Lisfranc surgery at the end of last season.