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Many sexual assaults on college campuses go unreported. Victims tell us it is a culture of shame, silence and secrecy, and often, perpetrators are never charged.

A recent study by the Department of Justice found as many as one in four women is sexually assaulted while in college. And according to the Center for Public Integrity, 95% of those go unreported.

So what's going on?

We visited Wisconsin campuses and crunched the numbers to find out the true story on campus.

One young woman at UW-Milwaukee told us she herself was a victim of a sexual assault. "I was the victim of sexual assault my freshman year. I was in my dorm room," she said.

She talked to her parents, and police, but ultimately chose not to pursue charges. Why?

"The perpetrator was extremely well-known and I kind of just wanted to let things fizzle out," she admitted.

UWM Police Chief Mike Marzion said the campus is safe, but, "Sexual assaults are going to occur on any university."

The problem: the number of sex assaults that are reported to official, record-keeping entities appears to be far fewer than the actual number of attacks.

Stephanie Byrnes is a victim of sexual assault.

"I was assaulted by my uncle at a very young age, at a family holiday gathering. When it's somebody you know and trust, when he told me not to tell anybody I didn't. I was silent," she recalled.

When she went to college at UW-Madison, Byrnes joined PAVE, a program started at that campus to help prevent sexual assault.

Byrnes told us many victims, because they are scared or embarrassed or don't want to make waves, don't want to speak out. But she also holds the universities accountable.　

"A lot of it is hush hush. Universities don't want to make a big deal of it because they don't want it to look like their campus has a big problem with crime," she alleged. "Back door proceedings, secret meetings...."

Right now, UW-Parkside in Kenosha faces a civil suit. A young woman claims she was raped by her resident advisor, and that the university didn't follow its own protocol for reporting the attack. The university wouldn't comment on pending litigation.

Byrnes said she's heard stories like that before. "There are all kinds of barriers within barriers that prevent people from speaking out or getting their cases heard," she said.

So what kind of discrepancy are we talking about? Wisconsin's crime numbers claim there were seven sexual assaults at UWM in 2009, out of 30,000 kids. UW-Madison reported just one in 2008. UW-Oshkosh reported five, and at UW-Whitewater, seven sex crimes were reported.

"Those are the students who felt safe enough to disclose to an institution and it doesn't represent the severity of these crimes on our campuses, said Carmen Hotvedt, a violence prevention specialist at UW Madison.

Hotvedt said there are many issues that hinder reporting. Education, she said, is key. Many students simply don't know what constitutes a sexual assault. She also said alcohol is often involved. But she said stopping sexual assaults on campus is really a three-pronged approach.

"Campuses should have good prevention programs in place, be responding to attacks effectively and should be holding perpetrators accountable," Hotvedt said.

UW Madison just introduced an informational program for incoming student to educate them about sexual assault and prevention.

"For an hour of your time to prevent something from happening to you or a friend or from perpetrating, it's a good investment," Hotvedt said. But it's not mandatory.

UWM Police Chief Mike Marzion said while he wants the crimes reported-- he also wants to make sure victims have their needs met.

"Even if they decide not to go the criminal justice route we get them somewhere where they can get them assistance and help without having the law enforcement involved," Chief Marzion said.

But victims say the numbers paint a false picture of safety. They want transparency-- and justice.

"We need to talk about this issue, it's a public health crisis," Stephanie Byrnes said.