A recent study found that the number of sexual assault cases reported by U.S. colleges and universities increases 44 percent when they are under review by the U.S. Department of Education, then drops back down to low reporting levels when the review is complete. Crime reports, especially for incidences of sexual violence, should not have such a sharp or suspicious jump.

Corey Rayburn Yung, a law professor at the University of Kansas, completed the study. He compared sexual assault data submitted by universities for Clery Act reports during audits with data from years before and after the audits.

For some background, the Clery Act is a federal statute that requires all universities participating in federal aid programs to report information about campus crime and safety issues.

Even when colleges or universities are under review for Clery Act violations, however, the study finds they don’t change their reporting behavior. Reporting levels for sexual assaults drop back to pre-audit days and stay there.

According to Yung’s results, it seems the ordinary practice of colleges and universities is to consistently undercount incidents of sexual assault.

Though the report focused on 31 large universities between 2001 and 2012, I fear underreporting still occurred in 2013 and 2014 and that this will be the case for the future. I am overjoyed at the Obama administration’s attention to college campus sexual assault last spring and national campaigns like “It’s On Us,” but I want to make sure this attention does not die out.

The study also looked at college and university reports of aggravated assault, robbery and burglary, but there were no statistically significant differences before, during or after audits. The only difference seems to be in reports of sexual assault.

This is frightening. It’s disappointing, and it’s wrong.

An important thing to keep in mind is that the study only focuses on sexual assaults that are actually reported. It’s likely that the real numbers of assaults are much, much higher.

Many survivors never officially report an assault because of who the perpetrator is, a survivor’s fear of victim blaming or, as this study seems to indicate, because they don’t think their college or university will even take it seriously.

Yung suggests several ways to combat low reporting. He proposes giving colleges and universities more financial and personnel resources to fight against sexual violence. Yung also believes universities should be audited more often and that fines for Clery Act violations should be raised.

I think these are great solutions, and I have one more to add to the list: spreading student awareness. Students – and young adults in general – have some of the most powerful voices and have the potential to change so much for the greater good. We need to talk about sexual violence. We need to promote awareness through posters or demonstrations around campus through active and intellectual dialogue.

These results show that sexual assault data supplied by schools severely undercounts the number of reported incidents. “As a result,” the report states, “policymakers, school administrators, campus police, municipal police and the public are underestimating the actual severity of campus sexual assault.”

St. Thomas has made some amazing efforts within the last year to combat sexual violence, including an updated sexual misconduct policy, digital posters about consent and hiring a sexual misconduct prevention coordinator. The Luanne Dummer Center for Women and the Feminist Community hold annual events to raise awareness, and students can participate in Green Dot bystander training.

But we have to do more.

We have to keep pushing for awareness; we have to keep advocating for change. We have to hold perpetrators accountable, and we have to uplift survivors. We have to realize that it is never the survivor’s fault, that sexual assault is never something to joke about and that it is a serious crime that needs to end.

The attention sexual violence has been getting both locally and nationally must endure, not be some passing fad that will end with 15 minutes of fame or be over and done with a Clery Act audit.

Jamie Bernard can be reached at bern2479@stthomas.edu.