--- title: Joe Biden: University Presidents Must Address Sexual Assault description: Vice President Joe Biden called on university presidents "change the culture" on campuses in responding to reports of sexual assault. canonical: https://time.com/4433667/joe-biden-campus-sexual-assault-presidents/ author: TIME Staff article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2016-08-01T20:01:43.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-02-22T23:41:59.280Z article:section: Politics og:title: Joe Biden Calls on University Presidents to Address Sexual Assault og:description: "You can't pretend you don't know" og:url: https://time.com/4433667/joe-biden-campus-sexual-assault-presidents/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt2537cb597e5cc68b/6988a0b0cd1bba38f0701cb0/joe-biden.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 5088 og:image:height: 2862 og:image:alt: DEM 2016 Convention og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Joe Biden Calls on University Presidents to Address Sexual Assault twitter:description: "You can't pretend you don't know" twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt2537cb597e5cc68b/6988a0b0cd1bba38f0701cb0/joe-biden.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Joe Biden Calls on University Presidents to Address Sexual Assault: 'You Can't Pretend You Don't Know' > Sponsored content. 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It explains the politics, personalities and power dynamics behind the headlines, three times a week. #### Where can I get analysis of Washington politics by email? D.C. Brief is TIME's free Washington politics newsletter, available at time.com/newsletters. It is written by a TIME senior correspondent who covers the capital full time. #### Who writes TIME's D.C. Brief? Philip Elliott, a senior correspondent at TIME, writes D.C. Brief. #### Is D.C. Brief free? Yes. D.C. Brief is free at time.com/newsletters. by [TIME Staff](https://time.com/author/time-staff/) ## TIME Staff Aug 1, 2016 8:01 PM UTC  Joe Biden takes the stage during the third day of the Democratic National Convention in Philadelphia, on July 27, 2016. Joe Biden takes the stage during the third day of the Democratic National Convention in Philadelphia, on July 27, 2016. Paul Sancya—AP by [TIME Staff](https://time.com/author/time-staff/) ## TIME Staff Aug 1, 2016 8:01 PM UTC [Vice President Joe Biden ](http://time.com/4432295/joe-biden-vice-president-office-2/)called on university presidents Monday to help “change the culture” on campuses in terms of responding to reports of sexual assault. “That message starts from the president on down at the university,” Biden said in a conference call with university officials. “It really, really matters.” Biden said there is no justification for students to be sexually assaulted on campus and that schools must do a better job of responding to sexual assault complaints. He said universities must gather their own information through surveys to understand the specific issues on their campus. “You can’t pretend,” he said. “You can’t pretend you don’t know.” Biden helped spearhead the creation of the White House Task Force to Protect Students from Sexual Assault. In 2014, the task force launched the [It’s On Us](http://itsonus.org/#landing) campaign, which asks people to take a pledge to intervene to prevent sexual assaults and create an environment where survivors of sexual assault are supported. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4433667/joe-biden-campus-sexual-assault-presidents/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4433667/joe-biden-campus-sexual-assault-presidents/"},"headline":"Joe Biden Calls on University Presidents to Address Sexual Assault: 'You Can't Pretend You Don't Know'","datePublished":"2016-08-01T20:01:43.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-22T23:41:59.280Z","description":"\"That message starts from the president on down at the university\"","url":"https://time.com/4433667/joe-biden-campus-sexual-assault-presidents/","keywords":["Joe Biden"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt2537cb597e5cc68b/6988a0b0cd1bba38f0701cb0/joe-biden.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"TIME Staff","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/time-staff/"}],"articleSection":"Politics","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt2537cb597e5cc68b/6988a0b0cd1bba38f0701cb0/joe-biden.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"DEM 2016 Convention","caption":"DEM 2016 Convention","creditText":"Paul Sancya—AP","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/politics/","name":"Politics"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4433667/joe-biden-campus-sexual-assault-presidents/","name":"Joe Biden Calls on University Presidents to Address Sexual Assault: 'You Can't Pretend You Don't Know'"}}]}] ```