You’ve heard it many times before:

“She was asking for it.”

“She shouldn’t have been drinking.”

“Guys can’t even get raped. That doesn’t make any sense.”

“What did she expect wearing a dress that short?”

Rape culture penetrates every aspect of our society, and it is no different at ESU.

Last year, there was a rape case, and not even 24 hours after the incident, people were blaming the victims on YikYak, an anonymous social media outlet.

And then we, as a society, wonder why victims have trouble disclosing immediately.

That screams messed up, doesn’t it?

And yet, even now, we are living in a society where one student can rape another, be caught in the act, have DNA testing done and only get three months of jail time for his “good behavior.”

Was Brock Turner “behaving well” when he was assaulting his victim? No. So why does it matter that he’s “behaving well” in prison?

According to the Kansas State Legislature, rape is defined as “knowingly engaging in sexual intercourse with a victim who does not consent to the sexual intercourse under any of the following circumstances: When the victim is overcome by force or fear, or when the victim is unconscious or physically powerless.”

The legislature goes on to define what consent is and even what being unconscious and physically powerless means. As a university of Kansas, Emporia State has to follow this because the terms of rape fall under misconduct, which ESU has zero tolerance for.

But even after all of this, it’s quite terrifying to think that there are people out there who don’t believe that rape is such a thing, or simply don’t care.

So, what do we as the student body do about it? Well, care about the issue of rape and treat every case that comes through as serious as if it were a murder case. Make every student on campus take the consent class, which is only required for freshman. Within that class, make students read the university’s policy on misconduct and the state of Kansas Legislature. Even throw in Title IX information, just so students can fully understand this topic instead of the university telling students “don’t do it because it’s bad.”

I’m sure there are many students on campus who would feel much safer walking around on campus if they knew every single student took the class (and had to pass) to be more understanding and certainly more aware of the issue of rape on university campuses around the United States.