Sexual assault is unacceptable.

It should be obvious. Other people are clearly not your property, property that you can do whatever you want with. Peoples’ minds and bodies are their own. You do not have the right to invade the most intimate parts of others’ minds and bodies.

Unfortunately, sexual assault is easy. Too many times have college students found themselves drunk at a party or walking home alone at night or countless other situations that don’t fit into the stereotype. And it’s easy to sexually assault someone if you are uneducated or even be sexually assaulted yourself. It happens all too frequently.

Sexual assault is also easy to read about. Sure it can make you angry after reading a timely warning email from the university. Maybe even enough to comment on Facebook or tweet. But then what? How many people are inspired enough to act? Whether it is stopping an assault from actually occurring, educating ourselves or joining clubs or campaigns to make a difference, not many of us choose to act. Acting is the difficult part.

Sexual assault leaves lifelong emotional scars on survivors and shakes all their feelings of trust and security. Sexual assault has countless repercussions for survivors who are forced to live and deal with the trauma for the rest of their lives.

Sexual assault is wrong. So why don’t college students seem to get it? Why is there a culture of sexual assault that surrounds many of our nation’s college campuses?

April is Sexual Assault Awareness Month and it is a perfect time to not only reflect on the problems our campus and many others have faced, but also look toward the future, rededicate ourselves and create attainable goals for improving the safety and correcting the culture of our campuses. This editorial board is taking the opportunity on the first day of this month to plead for continued awareness of and action to improve our culture from our fellow students and administrators both at Iowa State University and all other universities across the country.

There is not one clear solution to this culture of sexual assault on college campuses. If there was, wouldn’t the countless activists, politicians and school administrators who are so passionate about the issue already have solved it? But any time awareness, education or activism is improved or becomes more frequent — or even if a simple conversation is started about the issue — we are one step closer to changing the culture and making our campuses and ourselves safer.

Sexual assault is clearly an epidemic. According to a report on rape and sexual assault produced by the White House Council on Women and Girls, 1 in 5 college women have been sexually assaulted. However, according to the report, only about 12 percent of sexual assaults on college students are reported to law enforcement. Because of this, the true number of sexual assaults on college students is difficult to determine and much disputed.

But it does not matter what the true number of sexual assaults on our nation’s college campuses is, no matter how much it is debated over. Because one sexual assault on one college campus is too many.

This school year alone has driven home the fact that sexual assault is a real problem in our country and at Iowa State. The news of another sexual assault on campus has been an all too common headline in our own newspaper this year. And on top of the many sexual assaults, some of which were reported at residence halls, a fraternity was suspended after a sexual assault accusation and the university itself is under investigation by the federal government for its handlings of sexual assault cases.

The problem of sexual assaults has been one the ISD Editorial Board has felt passionately about and discussed many times in our newspaper this year all in an effort to keep the issue at the forefront of our readers’ minds. We have called for ongoing education and conversations for students on the subject, expressed disappointment in our university’s handlings of sexual assault cases after it attracted the investigation, supported student-led initiatives against sexual assault and discussed the pitfalls of reporting sexual assaults to universities instead of law enforcement.

And yet, despite the continuous reporting and advocacy by this editorial board and countless other students, administrators and officials at our school and across the country, sexual assault continues to be a terrifying epidemic and it is completely unacceptable.

The latest Clery Report — an annual campus safety report and crime statistics required by the federal government — showed 20 “forcible sex offenses” occurred in 2013. This number is up from 12 in 2012 and seven in 2011. While it is unclear if more of these cases are actually occurring or if more are simply just being reported, this statistic does show sexual assaults continue to be a problem on our campus.

Students should demand better of each other and their universities, not just here at Iowa State but all across the country. Administrators should have higher expectations for their staffs, students and institutions. Our government should accept nothing short of eradication of this culture that perpetuates sexual assault.

And while our editorial board has made many suggestions on how to improve the culture and decrease the frequency of sexual assaults on our campus, there is not one clear and immediate solution. However, that is not an excuse for those invested in our country’s campuses to do anything short of work tirelessly to improve the situation.

This is a call, to students, faculty, administrators or anyone else who will listen to stay informed, expect more out of their peers and take the next step toward ending sexual assault. Because as of now, sexual assault is our culture, our epidemic and, most importantly, our problem.