Vice President Joe Biden is greeted by the Pitt Panther mascot as he arrives to speak about sexual assault at the University of Pittsburgh on Tuesday.

PITTSBURGH — Vice President Joe Biden says young people must keep working to “change the culture” to combat sexual assault at schools and college campuses in a speech at the University of Pittsburgh.

Tuesday's event was part of the national “It's On Us” campaign, which Biden says encourages people to support victims and “turn the abuser into the pariah on campus.”

Biden says things have improved for some women 22 years after he championed the Violence Against Women Act in the Senate, but statistics for girls and women ages 14 to 24 haven't changed.

Biden says, “This is a character test; you have to pass it and our nation has to pass it.”

Biden will appear at the University of Nevada at Las Vegas and the University of Colorado later this week.