A new semester means a new opportunity to join Pitt’s more than 400 student organizations — anything from club sports to Knittsburgh, a knitting and crocheting group.

Pitt fired all the dogs in the Therapy Dog Tuesday program on Friday. Faced with budget issues, Pitt made the decision to replace the trained therapy dogs with stray animals from South Oakland.

Therapy dogs visit the Cathedral’s first floor every Tuesday to help students destress.

This is shaping up to be an anxiety-inducing school year, and without our furry friends to give us their silent yet transcendent wisdom, we are essentially raw-dogging it through a year when we need dogs most.

Marsha Robbins' therapy dog program has been bringing calming canines to Pitt for years.

Winston prowls around a house on Bates Street — meowing, knocking things over with his black-and-white paws and chewing on the mail. For Georgia Vidal, a college student with a limited budget, housing...