There is a reason why the city of Philadelphia is in a crisis.
You can blame countless organizations, lacksidasical policies and corrupt leaders, but what it comes down to is the cold shoulder that so many Philadelphians give to their city everyday.
We, as a whole, are ignoring the problem.
As of Tuesday, there have been 246 murders in the city - 12 more than the same date last year.
Not that we should be proud of the 406 homicides in the city in 2006. In 2005, Philadelphia reported a homicide rate of 25.6 percent; San Diego, a city of comparable size, had a rate of just 4 percent.
Not to mention that in 2005, New York City, a city with about 8 times the population of Philly, had only 162 more murders.
In case you haven't noticed, this city has a problem. We, the Penn community, are a part of this city, and so we, too, have a problem.
It is time to step out of our bubble. It is time for us to care.
The murders are staying away from the wealthier areas of Philadelphia; the Center City district, Penn and the surrounding suburbs. Only three this year have occurred in the Center City area; only one on Penn's campus.
It's not as if students are unaware of the problem.
College junior Cristina Nigro said that "the news tells us everyday that Philadelphia is already well on its way to breaking homicide records."
For others, it's a concern of safety; students like College junior Zandy Cucharale who say that Penn security is "utterly inadequate."
When asked if they could do anything about the problem, most students tend to feel helpless - they would gladly help fix the problem, but it appears that nothing can be done.
One thing that can be done, though, is to keep bringing this issue to the forefront of our attention.
One of the best judges of our eyes and ears is The Daily Pennsylvanian, the very paper whose summer edition you are reading right now.
For many students, parents and alumni, it is their only connection to the community during the summer. But last week's issue contained not a single drop of ink devoted to the murders in Philadelphia.
The DP is not the sole news source for Philadelphia, but it needs to report on these murders, however briefly to inform our community about the violence playing out on our cities streets.
Just because it doesn't happen on campus doesn't mean it is not important. We need to break out of our protected stereotype and show Philadelphia we care. If a member of our community were affected, I know there would be an uproar.
We can be a passionate community. In the spring semester, The DP counted the number of days the University delayed announcing a new SAS Webmail provider. I think a count of the bodies piling up in our city is a touch more pertinent.
There is no concrete answer to a problem of this scope; a number of challenges exist, both cultural and legal.
Five homicides occurred early Sunday morning last week, three of which were in a bar in the Kingsessing section of the city.
And, in line with the city's "stop-snitching" motto, no witnesses had come forward.
An impassioned Mayor Street finally stopped playing with his iPhone and took some action last weekend. The man was screaming, sweating, and pleading in front of the Abay Wheelers bar for someone, anyone who was in that bar, to come forward. Until then, he has closed the bar.
For once, Street has taken some action. It's about time. But it may not be enough.
The state of Pennsylvania does not allow counties, cities or other municipalities to make its own gun laws, which means that major metropolitan areas are subject to the same laws that are designed to please people in rural areas.
It should seem clear that the situations in these two types of regions are slightly different.
Two Philadelphia City Council members have sued the state legislature with regards to this discrepancy, but this action only came after officials in Harrisburg refused to authorize city ordinances on gun control that simply tried to limit the purchases of handgun to one per month per person.
Of course, we can write to our state representatives and let them know that this concerns us, but we can also be visual in our actions.
When students return in the fall, we should show our concern with vigils and demonstrations. We can be active with community service groups, whether through education or just picking up trash.
This is not an issue to be swept under the rug by anyone. Let's show Philly we care. Let's invest in our city, not necessarily with our endowment, but with our collective voice - this violence must be stopped.
Andy Hines is a College junior from Lake Charles, La. His e-mail address is hinesaj@sas.upenn.edu
