I'm looking at you, Stanford.

Sexual assault is not a result of the consumption of alcohol.

Every institution of higher learning that perpetuates the idea that sexual assault is a result of a campus-wide drinking problem needs a serious reality check. As fall semesters go underway and a staggering number of first-year students walk into the big, bright new world of America’s college system, we see a continuous cycle of warnings and “education” filling our bulletin boards, email accounts, and student orientations. We need to take responsibility and own the fact that rape and sexual violence occur because of problems that run much deeper than substance abuse.

This observation is not ground-breaking: the objectification and over-sexualization of women and the female body form the very core of the sexual violence epidemic in our country. There is no protecting young girls and women from the stigma that their bodies are the property of the public. We saw a prime example of this struggle in Rio this summer. Egypt's Doaa Elghobashy was the first Olympian beach volleyball player to wear a hijab during the event. The opposing team, from Germany, wore bikinis. The cultural differences during that particular match sparked frenzy online, drawing opinions from the general public. That is to say, as shocking as this may be, that the female athletes were judged based on the clothes and coverings they chose to wear or not to wear. There was little public commentary on their ability to perform.

The direction of that conversation is disgustingly mundane. As Hillary Clinton becomes the first women to ever be the presidential nominee of a major party, media focuses on her clothes and physical appearance over the qualifications she may or may not possess to efficiently, productively, and justly run the United States as commander-in-chief.

So, how does this tie to the sexual violence crisis we see on college campuses across America? The answer is so simple, it’s no wonder it is consistently overlooked. The perception that our society has towards sex, women, and femininity forms a dangerous cocktail of irresponsible, self-centered actions that has potential to ultimately result in young women being sexually harassed, assaulted, or otherwise violated by those around them.

The bottom line is that alcohol is not the problem. Yes, it can (and often is) used as a tool by sexual predators to lure their victims to a state in which they are unable to give an affirmative “no” or to effectively struggle against the attack. But to ban hard liquor from campus activities is nothing but a slap in the face to every sexual assault victim who was violated in an instance involving alcohol. Likewise, it is nothing more than a slap on the wrist to predators like Brock Turner, who try to escape consequences by blaming his actions on alcohol while simultaneously blaming the victim for “being too drunk”.

The culture of college campuses is in dire need of a wake-up call if, like Stanford, our other institutions of higher education think that alcohol awareness is even a half-decent substitute for real, engaged conversations about sexual violence and sexual assault prevention.