Iowa State is ignorant.

Ignorant to issues affecting a large portion of its student population.

The ISU Community Multicultural Discussion open forum that took place Wednesday night uncovered the fact that portions of the ISU administration, faculty, staff and student body are essentially blind to harassment and discrimination the multicultural and minority population on campus experience.

The panel was brought on in response to the Sept. 12 football game, where a woman ripped a Trump protester’s poster after a “white supremacy” comment; however, it was not the sole reason for the event. It just happened to be the final straw on top of the pile of daily, random injustices and discrimination multicultural and minority students, faculty and staff experience on this campus on a regular basis.

Though this event was more than unfortunate, it is not an isolated event. The fact this panel happened only after multicultural student organizations persisted endlessly is an unsettling insight to how the community is ignored on campus.

Numerous multicultural students courageously shared their personal encounters with racial aggression to a crowd that fully filled the Great Hall of the Memorial Union. Hearing Maria Alcivar tell head administration that somebody shoved her face and told her, “You don’t belong here,” was enraging.

Enraging in both the fact it happened but also that nothing was done.

This community clearly needs to be educated. The fact people on this campus say things like “you don’t belong here” or “where are you really from?” is, frankly, appalling and disturbing.

Education is the first step.

Leath said multiple times he was unaware of the extent to which students were experiencing these unsettling discriminations.

While it is difficult for Leath to know about every single thing that happens to an ISU student, and students are in part responsible for voicing negative experiences, it is on the administration’s shoulders to seek out these students to make sure they feel safe and that discriminatory incidents are addressed.

“We’ve missed the mark on creating an environment where individuals feel comfortable enough to talk about what’s going on,” said Senior Vice President for Student Affairs Tom Hill.

And because of that, students feel unsafe, discriminated against and unwelcome. College is supposed to serve as a second home. How can it serve as a second home if students have to worry about being called derogatory names or being yelled at to “go home” when they are walking to class or getting on an elevator?

While the university boasts a multicultural center, multicultural and international clubs and organizations, financial and other services on campus, it’s clear from students’ reactions that the services are either under-promoted or under-supported.

You can say, “we’ll work on it”, “we want to address it”, “we want to hear your suggestions” all you want.

But until Iowa State takes to heart what students, faculty and staff are saying, until administration creates a multicultural ISU Police liaison officer, implements safe-zone training or thinks about creating a campus representative to a greater population, we cannot falter.

We, as an ISU community, cannot let the issue fall by the wayside. It cannot be a brief blip in the ever-changing news cycle.

So, share your stories, share your concerns and hold the university accountable.