To all first-years and other newly enrolled students: welcome to our campus and the Case Western Reserve University community. And to returning students, welcome back. For those living on campus, don’t worry—it will soon start feeling like home. One of the best parts of attending CWRU is living in Cleveland and having the opportunity to discover all of its secrets and treasures.

Like any city campus, CWRU comes with its share of potential perils. This unfortunate reality of living in an urban area may soon become apparent in the form of texts and emails with security alerts about crimes that have happened on and around CWRU’s campus. We have had many conversations about the role CWRU plays within Cleveland, and how we must be aware of how our actions can affect others.

Last semester, there was a significant amount of dialogue on campus concerning the administration’s difficulty in communicating safety concerns to students. In April, some students were disappointed by the failure to warn the campus community in a timely manner of the Steve Stephens Facebook Live shooting in nearby Glenville, roughly half a mile from campus.

During the shooting incident, many students checked on each other out of concern; we are a community of individuals who care deeply about one another. And then we had a discussion. Some students organized a protest. The Undergraduate Student Government held a public panel with administrators. USG, along with the Undergraduate Diversity Collaborative, are the go-to organizations forraising a concern about something on campus. (Check out USG’s electronic concern box, which was introduced last semester.)

Last semester, we saw a great deal of discussion when it came to our nation’s identity. USG called for us to become a sanctuary campus.

A committee is in the midst of producing a proposal that could change the face of academics at CWRU. Check out our coverage in this issue about the need-aware admissions policy and menstrual product dispensers. We hope the discussions surrounding these and many more issues continues this semester.

We hope to both partake in and develop a sustained dialogue about current events and issues on campus. It is only by staying informed and talking about problems that we will be able to work together to solve them. We hope to provide a platform for this type of discussion to occur. We want to get people talking about what’s going on around them, and even more importantly, provide an opportunity for people to discuss their opinions and ideas.

The Observer goes to print every Friday, and we’re always online at our website. Write a Letter to the Editor–anyone can do so. In fact, join us and learn to write an article—there’s always a way to keep the discussion going.

We look forward to getting to know you.