This week is Collegiate Alcohol Awareness week on campus, where there will be tables and presentations to raise awareness of the dangers of alcohol for Georgia Southern University students.

Many students will undoubtedly walk past the events put on for the week without bothering to pay attention to the dangers that the week warns us of. It is a shame that students need a tragedy to draw their attention to the dangers of irresponsible alcohol use.

Last semester, GSU student Nick Ward lost his life as a result of being struck by a drunken driver. This tragedy rallied support for responsible alcohol use and led to increased police patrols in the area that Ward was killed.

Ward’s death is a distant memory for many students at GSU and is not something the current freshmen and transfer classes are probably aware of. This awareness week is addressing the same concerns and problems that many students brought up in the wake of the tragedy, but unfortunately the issue is not front-and-center in the minds of students.

While moving on with their daily lives after a tragedy is an inevitable and natural way of accepting what happened, students should not forget the lessons to be learned from a tragedy such as this. GSU students shouldn’t need a tragedy to make them suddenly care about alcohol abuse and drunken driving.