By Kae Livsey • Guest Columnist

In the U.S., there is a common perception that there is a pill to fix everything. We are flooded with advertisements promoting pharmacological management for all kinds of conditions. There are even drugs that have been developed to counteract the side effects of other drugs, such as a pill to counteract constipation resulting from use of legally prescribed opioids. Substance use disorders may result from legally prescribed opiates, or from when people resort to opioid-based drugs as a way to self-medicate for chronic pain or mental illness that may be undiagnosed, or untreated, due to lack of access to treatment and support.

It’s been said time and time again after forums, panels and public meetings held in communities across the country over the past dozen-odd years: if we could talk our way out of the nation’s opioid crisis, it would have been over a decade ago. 

There are a few moments in history that every American alive at the time remembers in crisp detail. The assassination of President John F. Kennedy. The first moon landing. The terrorist attacks of September 11. 

All three bore significance during astronaut Charlie Duke’s visit to Western Carolina University last week, on the 18th anniversary of the twin towers’ collapse. Two years before his death in November 1963, Kennedy changed the course of American history when he pledged during a May 1961 speech that the United States would put a man on the moon by the end of the decade. NASA met that challenge with just over four months to spare when Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin became the first people to set foot on the lunar surface, on July 20, 1969. 

It’s no secret that Western Carolina University is a growing community, with enrollment topping 12,000 for the first time this semester following an upward swing that’s seen the student body increase for eight out of the past nine years. 

Western Carolina University’s newest chancellor is fairly certain that, of the teachers and students she knew years ago while pursuing her undergraduate degree, none would have guessed that she’d one day end up leading a thriving campus of 11,000 students. 

More than 300 people crowded Innovation Station in Dillsboro on Monday, Aug. 19, to sip a beer and shake hands with WCU’s new chancellor, Kelli Brown, who holds a Ph.D. in education. 

It’s been two years since discussions began about the possibility of removing the Cullowhee Dam, and it could take years more to complete the additional studies needed to make a decision about removal and to raise the funds necessary to actually do it. 

Western Carolina University Chancellor Kelli R. Brown is meeting with alumni, friends of the university and community members across North Carolina this summer and fall as part of a “Chancellor’s Welcome Tour” designed to introduce WCU’s new chief executive officer to the region and state.

Western Carolina University and the Tuckaseigee Water and Sewer Authority will explore the possibility of combining their water systems following receipt of a $50,000 grant from the State Water Infrastructure Authority, which the TWSA board voted to accept at its June 18 meeting. 

Leaders of Western Carolina University and Asheville-Buncombe Technical Community College met Monday, July 8, to sign a memorandum of understanding between the two institutions of higher education that guarantees admission to WCU for all A-B Tech graduates who satisfy specific requirements spelled out in the document.