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The Pitt News

Digital Pitt News archives: Now available through the University Library System documenting.library.pitt.edu/collection/pitt-news

The independent student newspaper of the University of Pittsburgh | PIttnews.com | January 30, 2018 | Volume 108 | Issue 100

Opioid memorial brings DICKMAN attention to epidemic DISCUSSES

SEXUAL ASSAULT

Rose Luder Staff Writer

Mayor Bill Peduto (left) speaks with Michelle Lynam and her daughter Kimberly Lawther (right), as former Pitt Chancellor Mark Nordenberg greets other guests behind them. Chiara Rigaud | STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER States. The exhibit is part of the council’s Stop Everyday Killers campaign, an initiative aimed at raising awareness and The Pitt News Staff educating the public about the risks inCovered in 22,000 small white pills, volved in opioid use. each engraved with the face of an opioid The opioid memorial is free and open overdose victim, the opioid memorial to the public Jan. 30 to Feb. 1, from 10 stood behind Monday afternoon’s speaka.m. to 9 p.m. each day. It will also be ers. Their solemn voices drifted out to an open Friday, Feb. 2, from 10 a.m. to 1 audience who sat listening in silence for p.m. the many young lives lost. Pittsburgh is the first stop on the meThe press event marked the beginmorial’s nationwide tour, coming shortly ning of the “Prescribed to Death” opioid after Gov. Tom Wolf declared a state of memorial hosted by the National Safety emergency for the opioid epidemic in Council, a nonprofit organization proPennsylvania Jan. 10. The exhibit first moting health and safety in the United launched in Chicago in November 2017,

Salina Pressimone and Mackenzie Rodrigues

and will make stops in Atlanta and Washington, D.C., following its display at Pitt. Deborah A.P. Hersman, President and CEO of the NSC, opened the event by addressing the urgent purpose of the opioid memorial right now. “We’re here today because it is impossible to turn on the news and not hear another story about the opioid epidemic in our country,” Hersman said. She cited a 2017 report from the Drug Enforcement Administration Philadelphia Division and the University of Pittsburgh to bring quantitative data to her emotional plea. Of the more than 4,600 See Memorial on page 2

Student members of Pitt Athletics and the Pitt community filled the seventh floor auditorium of Alumni Hall Monday night to listen to a talk about sexual assault prevention on campus. The conversation was led by counselor, educator and self-described “sexologist” Kimberly Dickman. Her visit to Pitt was one of several trips to college campuses meant to educate students about consent, healthy relationships and sexual assault prevention. Dickman, who currently serves as the sexual assault program analyst for the U.S. Air Force, delayed her trip — originally scheduled for November — because her responsibilities as a member of the government. She greeted her audience with an apology. “I said ‘Sir, it’s Pitt,’ and he said, ‘Sorry, it’s Congress,’” Dickman said about the disappointment she felt after her boss told her to delay her trip. To loosen up the crowd before a serious discussion about sexual assault, Dickman engaged everyone with a roll call. She instructed the audience to respond to statements that fit them by shouting “Oh, yeah.” As Dickman listed different student organizations, students rowdily shouted, “Oh, yeah.” But then Dickman connected the roll call to the subject at hand. “The reason I do this roll call is because your voice on this topic makes a difference,” Dickman said. For the rest of the talk, Dickman presented information about sexual assault in a lecture-like format. She highlighted how infrequently survivors report sexual assault, using the metaphor of an iceberg to indicate that only the tip of the See Assault on page 2


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