Written by Emily Ng
Throughout Colorado there has been widespread havoc over recent clown attack threats. Schools ranging from universities to elementary schools have experienced clown threats, impacting the larger community of Colorado as well as the smaller community of Colorado College. One CC student’s mother is an elementary school teacher in Greeley, Colo. Within the Greely school district, over 100 children refused to attend school on Sept. 27 due to a called-in clown attack threat. This teacher refused to interview, as she had little information on the subject. Her lack of information is no coincidence; the issue is purely fictitious.
Allyson Malloy, Colorado native and first-year at University of Colorado Boulder, was subject to a recent school lockdown. The campus fell into panic when rumors spread of a man in a clown costume running around campus with a machete, as well as a suspected shooter tied to the “clown threats” supposedly following groups of students around campus and opening fire at will. Upon further investigation, however, all claims were false. There was no clown threat, no armed shooter, and while there was a man with a machete on campus the night of Oct. 6, he wasn’t wearing a clown costume. According to Malloy, students continued to call in statements of fear and panic and supposed clown sightings to the offices of CU Boulder Security. Eventually this long game of telephone resulted in a complete campus shut down.
Malloy was sent away from her classroom to take a midterm by a security officer because of an alleged report of an armed shooter in the building. Individuals trapped in their dorms and classrooms heard terrifying accounts that a student died at the arms of an armed shooter, and students trapped in their classrooms were next. What does this shutdown say about CU Boulder? More distinctly, what does it say about the community? This clown rumor phenomenon is a negative testament to our generation and how we choose to socialize, and the subsequent impact on our younger generation. In Denver, police investigated a claim that elementary school children saw five killer clowns outside during recess in the Jeffco County School system.
When considering what we say and the terror that can be prevalent around this time of year, we forget the power of words. It’s important to take into account how our words influence others. Whether we are spreading rumors or expressing fears, our speech has can change our community for better or worse.
It’s time to quit clowning around and take the preposterous with a grain of salt.