I do not think many Marquette students are pro-homelessness.

I have not run into any student organizations valiantly campaigning to ensure that 2,000 people in Milwaukee remain without a permanent residence.

This seemingly one-sided issue leaves the average person with two choices: They can either choose to act compassionately or remain neutral.

For too many, homelessness is accepted as a stagnant injustice. An apathetic attitude, however, should be replaced with an attitude of determination and hope.

Cities and counties across the United States have begun to implement "10-year plans" which intend to end, not just manage, homelessness in the next 10 years.

Portland, Ore., for example, has implemented an active process to abolish homelessness by 2015.

Portland is emphasizing permanent housing, founding innovative partnerships and increasing economic opportunity.

San Francisco has developed a similar plan, and Denver is pushing to decrease homelessness by 75 percent over the next five years.

These cities realize the enormity of this social problem, and they believe it can be solved. Milwaukee may develop a similar plan if residents of our city come together to remind leaders of this issue.

Midnight Run is sponsoring a "Sleep-out in Solidarity" from April 13 and 14 in Cathedral Square Park.

This is to show support for those who sleep outside every night and to take the next step in ending the injustice of homelessness.

Please log on to the University Ministry Web site, www.marquette.edu/um/, to see how you and your organization can join us.

Just a short month ago, the freezing weather made walking to class a painful process. Still, many people in the neighborhoods surrounding Marquette were sleeping outside. We need to recognize just what a home provides: a place of physical and also much-needed emotional warmth.

Each person deserves to have a place to call home. Our society, and in particular, our campus should not be neutral to the issues of the homeless.

We need to look around and demand change. We need an outpouring of compassion coupled with a profound realization that homelessness can end.

Turner is a junior in the College of Arts & Sciences.