From Sorensen's remarks

USC president Andrew Sorensen quoted a famous verse — “no man is an island, entire of itself; every man is a piece of the continent” — from 16th-century Anglican priest and poet John Donne:

“If I may adapt that observation to the 21st century and the University of South Carolina,” Sorensen said, “no Gamecock is an island. When any one member of our family is lost, every one of us is diminished. I’m profoundly saddened, as are all members of Gamecock Nation, by these tragic deaths.”