Put simply, last year was a disappointing one for ISU students. The epidemic of sexual assaults and other types of sexual misconduct on our nation’s college campuses became a reality with numerous instances of our students and university perpetuating, mishandling or standing idly by while this culture grew.

Last year, the Department of Education’s Office of Civil Rights announced that our university was under investigation for its handlings of sexual assaults. A fraternity was suspended after a sexual assault in its house was reported and, during the spring semester alone, ISU students received three timely warnings of sexual misconduct instances on or near campus. That doesn’t even count events involving students off campus.

ISU students were dealt another blow when the results of a sexual misconduct climate survey were released Monday morning. The survey, opened up to all students for three weeks last April, had more than 5,200 students respond — 16.2 percent of the student population.

The problem

The 131-page report included an abundance of information about ISU students’ feelings on sexual misconduct and how prevalent cases of sexual misconduct are at the university — a total of 9.7 percent of ISU students who took the survey reported being the victim of sexual misconduct. Some of the most concerning numbers, however, were those that showed ISU students’ lack of education or knowledge on the subject.

The numbers prove it. The ISU community needs to take action to improve education on what sexual misconduct is, how to report it and to increase the number of conversations surrounding the issue of sexual assault culture and how to fix it — something The Daily plans to take part in this year.

The numbers

The reality of ISU students’ lack of knowledge on the subject of sexual misconduct is perhaps most obvious in two of the report’s sections on bystander intervention — witnesses of an intoxicated person heading for a sexual encounter and witnesses of someone acting in a sexually violent or harassing manner.

Almost 40 percent of ISU students who responded to the survey said they witnessed a drunk person heading for a sexual encounter. Of these witnesses, 75.8 percent said they did nothing to stop the incident.

That’s concerning.

What’s more concerning is the fact almost 24 percent of those bystanders who chose to do nothing did it because they didn’t know what to do.

The second example of this lack of knowledge can be seen in witnesses of any sexually violent or harassing instance — 15.4 percent of students said they fell into this category. Among those, just more than 52 percent said they did nothing. Among those who said they did nothing, 22.4 percent reported they didn’t know what to do to help the situation.

That means 1 in 4 people who witness an unwanted sexual advance and do nothing don’t know how to handle the situation. And, therefore, did nothing.

The simple fact that more than 20 percent of students who witnessed both of these types of sexual misconduct and did nothing do not know how to respond or help the survivor, is a shocking, deeply-concerning statistic that shows a clear lack of education among ISU students or education provided by the university.

Only 29.4 percent of students who responded to the survey considered themselves very or extremely knowledgeable about how the university defines sexual assault and sexual misconduct. This number should be considerably higher. If we expect to improve our sexual assault and misconduct climate, we need to better educate our students on what exactly these crimes are.

Not only do students not understand what sexual assault and misconduct are, but they do not know how to find help or where to report these cases. Only 34 percent of ISU students know where to get help if they experience sexual assault or other sexual misconduct while only 28.1 percent know where to report a case.

These numbers, showing the simple lack of knowledge that ISU students have about sexual misconduct as well as the lack of resources at Iowa State, would be concerning enough to demand more education on the subject. However, the report also examines Iowa State’s specific education methods when it comes to campus sexual misconduct and its failure at truly informing students.

Almost 33 percent of ISU students said they received some education on sexual misconduct during orientation and while about a third agreed it was very helpful, another 41.3 percent could not remember if their orientation included this education. Another 14.6 said their orientation definitely did provide this information.

This means that almost 56 percent of students did not remember or definitely did not receive education on campus sexual misconduct during their orientation period. Even if the university provided this education, it is obvious a continued conversation about the subject is needed to ensure students are educated.

The solution

Before coming to Iowa State, all students are required to go through both alcohol and Title IX education. While this is a step in the right direction, this is obviously not working for ISU students as proved by the numbers reported in the sexual misconduct climate survey.

Iowa State needs to do more for its students.

Additional education and continuous conversations about sexual misconduct on college campuses is needed to improve this culture.

The Iowa State Daily promises to do its part in education about sexual misconduct. Through articles, columns, editorials and sharing your stories about sexual assault and other misconduct, The Daily will help educate the public.

The ISD Editorial Board understands the importance of campus sexual assault and misconduct and promises to keep the issue and possible solutions at the forefront of our discussions this year.

Finally, The Daily plans to promote public discourse on the topic by planning an open forum, in conjunction with other student organizations, this spring.

The Daily promises to do its part to improve campus culture.

The students have to make a promise.

And so does Iowa State University.

So that no one on our campus has to deal with the trauma, despair and heartbreak that comes with being sexually mistreated.