#PurdueStrong

With a Purdue University alumnus father and a sister attending Purdue, I always thought that if I went to a Big Ten school in my home state, it would be Purdue.

Ultimately I saw IU was a better fit for me. As my parents prepared to buy a “House Divided” bumper sticker, I prepared for the range of responses — I was either making the best decision of my life, or the worst.

In Indiana, you’re either a Hoosier or a Boilermaker. Never both.

But I’m exaggerating somewhat. For most people, it’s just a sports rivalry. My Boilermaker dad is completely behind IU as an academic institution. Just not the football team.

My sister was in class at the time of Tuesday’s shooting, although thankfully she was safe at home by the time I heard about it.  

I went to my own class right after hearing the news, wondering why no one else seemed upset. To me, it was as if it happened next door, which, in a sense, it did.  

IU and Purdue have one of the fiercest sports rivalries probably because we’re so similar. Aside from geographic proximity, we both have large numbers of alumni and students who passionately love their school.

There’s the brick vs. limestone debate, engineering vs. liberal arts. But in the end, the loyal and prideful cultures of IU and Purdue are the same, and so is the instinct to defend that which we love.  

I love my school. I love the trees in the fall, the cream and crimson scarves on snowy days, the nosebleed seats in Assembly Hall.

IU has become home for me, as Purdue has for my sister. So I can imagine how a campus shooting would feel — like someone invading your home.  

The idea of day-to-day safety being threatened in a place that usually provides comfort and security gave me chills as I sat in my own class mere hours after the shooting.

I’ve heard rumors on Twitter of IU students and other schools using the shooting as some disgusting extension of our sports rivalry, failing to give proper respect to a tragedy that transcends sports.

But I’m not paying attention to those. The concept is so ridiculous that it doesn’t even merit an argument.  

Purdue has suffered an unspeakable tragedy that could have just as easily happened here. We are connected to every school shooting victim in some way, but even more so to victim Andrew Boldt.

My loyalty to IU is not threatened in the least by solidarity with a student body that feels the exact same way about its school that I do about mine.

And so I have no problem giving a big #BoilerUp to our neighbors and friends at Purdue.

­— cjellert@indiana.edu
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Caroline Ellert
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