The fallout from an independent review of the University of Iowa’s handling of sexual assault investigations surrounding two football players has, encouragingly, come fairly swiftly.

U of I president Sally Mason’s firing of Dean of Students Phillip Jones and University General Counsel Marcus Mills late Tuesday comes as a first great positive step in the process of recovery at our sister institution. It also, we hope, will allow greater light to be shed on the chain of events and failure of systems that allowed this episode to devolve to a level that has created such public outcry.

But that’s precisely what this is: a first step.

The University of Iowa, the Iowa Board of Regents and other Regents institutions now have a unique opportunity to speak out on issues of sexual violence, review and update procedures and policies for dealing with sexual assault, and reassure students and communities that they can rely on the systems that appear to have failed so abysmally in Iowa City.

In response, ISU officials have already begun to review many of their policies and procedures. The ISU Division of Student Affairs has, thus far, been very attuned to developments in Iowa City, as well as their impact on attitudes and perceptions of students here in Ames. But that’s not all. This discussion cannot end with two firings and Thursday’s special meeting of the Board of Regents — it must continue, so that, when the next sexual assault happens, each university can be properly prepared to deal with the situation.

Sexual violence and its attendant issues are bigger issues than any university president, board, administration or investigation can deal with alone. The message that these recent, disturbing events at the University of Iowa have been sending is one of fear — fear on the part of the victim and the victim’s family, the fears of the Board of Regents and university administrators, and, undoubtedly, fear or doubt on the part of many students and others throughout the Regents’ system. It will take the involvement of the entire community to even begin to come to grips with what has happened, and, hopefully, insure that failures like this become a thing of the past.