Welcome back, Pioneers! Another new academic year is upon us. We hope you found some downtime in the midst of your summer commitments and are ready to take on the semester. It can be hard adjusting back to the academic grind, so make sure to give yourself some grace and always take care of yourself. 

While we hate to start our first column on a more somber note, it is imperative that we address last week’s shooting at the University of North Carolina Chapel Hill and this past Thursday’s shooting in Downtown. There was an on-campus event in Village Park happening just a few blocks away from the Downtown shooting. These events once again show that attending school, walking to work, and simply living your life is dangerous. No one is immune from gun violence. 

According to the Gun Violence Archive, over 470 mass shootings have occurred in 2023 alone. There have also been six active shooter incidents and 198 incidents without an active shooter in schools in 2023, resulting in the deaths of 45 students and injuring 110, according to the Center for Homeland Defense K-12 School Shooting Database. When is enough finally going to be enough? Will we ever be able to feel safe? Can we ever make Pittsburgh our campus?

We cannot become numb to school shootings and gun violence as a society. It has become far too easy to swipe past these story notifications and move on to the next topic. It has become far too easy to give up on the idea that we can create change, but nothing will ever change if we back down. We should not have to fear making it back alive to our dorms. It is bad enough that we have to face catcalling and sexual harassment on the street. 

We encourage you to sign up for campus and Pittsburgh public safety notifications. Sign up for PointALERT notifications at https://pointpark.omnilert.net. Refresh yourself on ALICE training at https://www.alicetraining.com/our-program/alice-training/.