The U.S. Department of Education’s Office for Civil Rights is at Iowa State this week to speak with students and staff to investigate the university’s handling of a sexual assault case. Students and faculty can speak with representatives from the Office of Civil Rights on April 20 and 21 about the subject.

The investigation came about after an ISU student filed a complaint with the office in October. According to the letter sent to President Steven Leath from the office informing him of the investigation, the Office of Civil Rights is looking into whether the university did “promptly and equitably respond to complaints, reports and/or incidents of sexual violence of which it had notice.”

Iowa State is one of more than 100 universities being reviewed by the Office of Civil Rights. In an email sent from President Leath to all students, faculty and staff last week, he said it’s an opportunity “for the university to receive feedback regarding our sexual assault policies and procedures and to make improvements where necessary. I want to ensure that we are doing everything possible to maintain a safe and healthy campus environment.”

As part of the review, the Office of Civil Rights is conducting open, voluntary interviews with any students, faculty or staff who wish to speak with a representative about the subject of sexual assaults. To make an appointment, those interested must go to the Great Hall Desk in the Memorial Union.

While the circumstances that brought about this investigation are obviously unfortunate and should never have occurred, hopefully the review will bring about positive messages for our students and improve the culture that allows for sexual assault on our campus.

Because of this investigation, students now have the opportunity to speak with the government about sexual assault as they see it on our campus. This could spearhead positive change at our school and within our administration.

This visit by the Office of Civil Rights will hopefully shine a light on the issue of sexual assaults at Iowa State and demand the attention of administrators, faculty and students. Knowing about the issue and calling attention to it is obviously the first step in working toward improving the culture that allows for sexual assaults.

Finally,if it does its job, this investigation will show the pitfalls in the current system of reporting sexual assaults to schools. While many universities are surely handling these cases the right way, there are too many universities that let them fall through the cracks, improperly punish the perpetrator, falsely report statistics or even do not provide enough support to sexual assault victims.

While it is an unfortunate circumstance that brought the Office of Civil Rights to campus, its presence undoubtedly represents direct access to an organization that can do more than simply suggest change on our campus but truly improve our culture.