Most all of us were disheartened at the news of the pending death of the landmark oak trees at Auburn’s Toomer’s Corner. As more information surfaced about the tragedy, we were relieved to learn that the madman behind the poisoning was not a graduate of our university.

While the unfortunate future of the trees seems certain, we must use this tragedy as a catalyst for better unity and sportsmanship between Alabama and Auburn.

The 2010 Iron Bowl is a hard day for me to reflect on. At times, our rivalry can seem too heated. I was one of the angry fans, yelling at Cam as he walked onto the field, and yelling louder as he walked off. I had friends in town from Auburn that weekend that I refused to speak to after the game. I even wrote a scathing column last semester about Auburn, and how they didn’t deserve to win a national championship.

I can’t say that I’m entirely proud of what I did, but it does reveal the deep love and respect that we have for college football in our state. As much as most Crimson Tide fans do not want to admit it, we harbor a level of respect for the Tigers. I am able to see that, despite who won or lost, our rivalry is entirely unique compared with others in our conference and around our nation.

In an effort to display our mutual respect and unity, SGA presidents James Fowler of UA and Kurt Sasser of Auburn announced a monumental project on Wednesday that plans for sister trees to be planted on both campuses as a symbol of mutual respect for our universities.

This project is just what we need. I anticipate coming back to our campus decades from now and being able to visit the tree. It will be a lasting representation of the deep appreciation that we have for our rival school.

Tide for Toomer’s, a grassroots fundraising campaign led by Alabama alumni, has been a hot topic of discussion this week on the Capstone, on the plains and all around our state and nation.

They currently have almost 60,000 fans on Facebook and have been able to raise over $45,000. They have a new goal of raising $50,000 by March 3rd, and I encourage everyone who is able to donate to this great cause.

I’m proud of the entire Alabama family for our conduct in the aftermath of this tragedy. We have isolated the man responsible, and made clear that his horrible actions are not representative of our collective ideal of a mutually respected rivalry.

Updyke’s actions were meant to tear the schools apart, and fuel the fury of the classless fans like him on both sides. However, he underestimated the class and sportsmanship that all true fans harbor within us. It is my hope that, through this heartbreaking event, we can all see a silver lining and come out in the end as better than we were before.

Austin Gaddis is a sophomore majoring in public relations and communication studies. His column runs biweekly on Fridays.