If you’ve turned on your television, opened a newspaper or been on a news website recently, the odds are you have seen something concerning sexual assault or harassment.

Whether it is NFL superstars beating their fiancées, prominent college athletes at major universities, or even small college issues, sexual assault is very real.

The problem was large enough to get NFL stars like Ray Rice and Greg Hardy suspended indefinitely.  People have even called for NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell’s job (unfortunately to no avail) for his mishandling of sexual assault cases.

Until recently, however, large colleges have tried to brush the problems under the rug.

Florida State QB and Heisman Trophy winner Jameis Winston wasn’t even suspended for a single game. In fact, the University has just started to investigate it.

Moving to a local level, Missouri Southern administration has been very proactive in searching out sexual assault cases and giving the cases the attention they deserve.

In the past five years, Missouri Southern has dealt with five cases. According to White House statistics, 40% of universities haven’t reported a single one in that span.

People may see the number five and cringe, but does that mean Missouri Southern is a dangerous school? Absolutely not.  

Our belief is that almost every university deals with sexual assault, but most try to hide it rather than expose it. By being proactive, university officials give victims an outlet to seek help without being worried that they will be shamed for it.