In college, the words “sexual assault” don’t cause the jaw-dropping shock that we all felt before coming onto campus. It seems like this is an all too common, heard it before the story that we are almost immune to nowadays.

It's not just something we've heard before, it's something we have on our minds constantly. It's something we can't let ourselves forget because we don't want to be next. And it's something that we can constantly remind ourselves of, but still not be able to avoid.

We have to remind ourselves to not drink too much because literally, anyone could be trying to take advantage of you. We worry about falling asleep without our doors locked, because who knows who could walk in. We keep our guard up even around friends because it’s proven that you are more likely to be sexually assaulted by someone who you actually know, rather than a stranger. We are afraid to walk around campus alone in the dark or go to the local Walmart without a friend. We are afraid to leave our drinks out of our sight while at the bar or wear revealing clothing. We are afraid of sexual assault, not even entirely because of what it is-- but because we know it could happen to any of us.

Why is it once we enter into a college environment, or even just age range, sexual assault goes from being a serious topic to a common issue that we tend to just blow off?

We blame it on everything from alcohol, hookup culture or “boys will be boys.” We question the victim about whether or not it "actually" was sexual assault or if they said "no" strong enough. But if we keep making excuses and looking the other way at this behavior in college, who is going to make it stop? I mean, even universities are hiring staff members accused of sexual assault.

It’s everywhere you look on a college campus. Reported or unreported— it’s there. It’s just like alcoholism, drug use or any other action students adapt to in college. It's like college means they can convince themselves that once the four years is up they magically won't be doing any of this anymore. It doesn't work that way, and the difference is that even if after four years someone does grow up and learn to start respecting someone else’s body— the victim is still left with the pain and consequences of that assault for far longer than four years.

1 in 5 women and 1 in 16 men are sexually assaulted while in college, instead of teaching people how to avoid it and making excuses for why it happened, we should be fighting to change that statistic.