Tucker was pledging the Beta Chapter of Sigma Phi Epsilon known as SigEp at Clemson University when he died.  Three brothers and 27 pledges including Tucker went on an early morning run across the Highway 93 Bridge at 5:30 am on September 22, 2014.

Tucker was discovered missing before 7 am when he did not report to the fraternity breakfast and his phone and keys were found where the brothers instructed the pledges to leave them before the run.

The pledges started looking for Tucker around 7 am but did not report him missing.   A call was made to campus police by one of the brothers at approximately 1:45 PM asking for information concerning Tucker but did not want to file a missing person’s report.

Tucker was found floating in Lake Hartwell just under the bridge at approximately 3:30 PM after one of the brothers led campus police to his whereabouts.  It was noted earlier by the brothers to police Tucker was wearing blue tennis shoes. Discovery of his body in the lake yielded blue tennis shoes showing out of the water with much of the remainder of his body submerged.

Witness testimony revealed Tucker, as the pledge class President, was instructed to bring 30 biscuits, 2 gallons of chocolate milk and 30 hash browns to the run which was delegated to another pledge.

The biscuits were not brought, and it is believed Tucker was forced to walk the railing of the bridge as a punishment and then fell to his death. The run was an event that would have been considered “hazing” under the policies of the national Sig Ep organization as well as under the rules of Clemson University.

No one has ever come forward to say what really happened to Tucker but eyewitness account puts a boy on the bridge railing while 4-6 others are running beside him yelling military type commands.  No one has ever been arrested or charged in the death of Tucker Hipps.

The family is now working on a documentary with Emmy Award winning filmmaker Daniel Catullo. Despite repeated requests, University President Jim Clements has declined to be interviewed or even cooperate in the making of this documentary.  On March 10, 2023, Amy Smith from Clemson University reached out to Mr Catullo to inform him that neither the University or President Clements will cooperate in the making of the documentary and declined interviews.  

We believe that transparency is key.  A student's safety should be the first priority of any University President.   President Clements should not hide from the Hipps family or Mr Catullo, but should be helping us in getting this story out there and finding who is responsible for Tucker's death.  We are creating this petition to hopefully show President Clements that the public would like him to sit for an interview and inform us what Clemson's official position is on Tucker's death.  We would also like Clemson to be transparent with us and share their own internal investigation results with  the filmmaking team so we can help find whoever is responsible.  

It has been almost 9 years and the family has no answers! Clemson needs to do more to help the family and law enforcement find out what happened to Tucker.  Not openly talking about the death of one of your students, especially when the family is requesting you to is not acceptable.