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President Obama speaks, with Vice President Joe Biden behind him, at the launch of the "It's On Us" campaign, a public awareness campaign to help prevent campus sexual assault, during an event at the White House September 19, 2014 in Washington, D.C. Win McNamee, Getty Images

Taking the next step in its effort to root out sexual violence, particularly at college campuses, the Obama administration on Friday launched a public awareness campaign called "It's On Us" to help all Americans feel responsible for preventing sexual assault.

"Campus sexual assault is no longer something we as a nation can turn away from and say, 'that's not our problem,'" President Obama said, joined by Vice President Joe Biden in the East Room of the White House. "We've got to have a fundamental shift in our culture."

An estimated one in five women has been sexually assaulted during her college years, Mr. Obama noted. Only 12 percent of those assaults are reported, and in those cases, only a fraction of the perpetrators are brought to justice.

"The fact is from sports leagues to pop culture to politics, our society still does not sufficiently value women," Mr. Obama said. When people "look the other way," he continued, "the message that sends can have a chilling effect on women."

Mr. Obama did not explicitly mention the controversy over the multiple National Football League players who have recently faced domestic violence charges. However, the White House on Thursday did tell the NFL that "it's important that the league get a handle" on players who commit child abuse and domestic violence.

The president on Friday noted that the issue of violence against women is "now in the news every day," and "victims are realizing they're not alone."

With the number of headlines addressing the issue and the new school year starting, Mr. Obama said Friday's "It's On Us" launch was "all that more relevant."

A number of groups are joining the White House to carry the "It's On Us" message, including media and entertainment companies like Viacom, College Humor, and Electronic Arts; college organizations like the NCAA, the PAC 12, the Atlantic Coast Conference and the American Association of University Women; as well as advocacy groups like Generation Progress and Men Can Stop Rape.

The initiative puts a special focus on encouraging men to speak up against domestic violence.

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Obama rolls out "It's On Us" initiative to combat sexual assault

Amid a new focus on violence against women, President Barack Obama kicked off a star-powered campaign Friday against campus sexual assault particularly targeted at encouraging men to take a stand.

Jon Hamm of "Mad Men," Kerry Washington of "Scandal" and NBA all-star Kevin Love are some of the familiar faces appearing in a public service announcement along with the president. The "It's On Us" campaign encourages everyone to consider stopping sexual assault their personal responsibility and to intervene when they suspect a woman can't or won't consent.

With an estimated 1 in 5 college women experiencing an attack, Obama decried "the quiet tolerance of sexual assault" and called it "an affront to our basic humanity." Research has shown most victims know their attackers, alcohol or drugs are often involved and only 12 percent of college women report the attack to police.

The Obama administration has been raising awareness of the problem this year, ahead of a midterm election in which Democrats are counting on a strong turnout by female voters. In January, Obama launched the White House Task Force to Protect Students from Sexual Assault that recommended action campuses could take to protect victims. The U.S. Department of Education for the first time publicly exposed the list of colleges under federal investigation for their handling of sexual assault complaints.

The latest effort has a particular focus on reaching men on campus.

"You don't want to be the guy who stops a friend from taking a woman home," Obama said, while arguing it is men's responsibility to do so.

Vice President Joe Biden was even more blunt in his message to men. "Step up!" he said. "Be responsible. Intervene. You have an obligation to make a pariah of those on campus who abuse another person."

Violence against women has taken on a new prominence recently amid controversy over the NFL's handling of domestic assault involving its players. Obama said society, including sports leagues, too often sends the message that women aren't valued. And with recent sexual assault scandals of their own, the nation's military academies are among the collegiate partners in the campaign, Obama said.

The campaign is supported by partners who plan to help spread the message, including the NCAA, several collegiate athletic conferences and media companies with reach among students.

Visitors to the Itsonus.org website are asked to turn their social media profile pictures into the campaign logo badge. They are asked to use their name, email address and zip code to pledge "not to be a bystander to the problem but to be a part of the solution." The information is collected by Generation Progress, the youth arm of the liberal Center for American Progress advocacy organization with close ties to the White House.

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Obama: Campus Sex Assault an Affront to Humanity

Politics Panel - Rand Paul was against bombing ISIS before he was for it
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Senator Rand Paul, R-Ky., speaks at the 2014 National Urban League Conference July 25, 2014 in Cincinnati. Jay LaPrete/Getty Images

In his latest appeal to voters who don't traditionally fall into his party's mold, Sen. Rand Paul, R-Kentucky, on Thursday scorned Republican-led attempts to restrict voting rights for minorities.

"So many times, Republicans are seen as this party of, 'We don't want black people to vote because they're voting Democrat; we don't want Hispanic people to vote because they're voting Democrat,'" he said during remarks at the Liberty Political Action Conference in Alexandria, Virginia. "We wonder why the Republican Party is so small. Why don't we be the party that's for people voting, for voting rights?"

Paul supports various state laws that have surfaced across the country requiring voters to voters to show a photo ID at polling places. Civil rights groups have censured that requirement, arguing such requirements disenfranchise some black voters who don't have and ID and can't get one.

Still, the libertarian-leaning crowd tendered fertile turf for Paul to marry his support for hands-off-government-fueled privacy policies and civil rights-inspired criminal justice reforms. He has long made the case that millions of people across the country are prevented from voting because they have criminal records.

To rectify that, Paul has introduced legislation in Congress that would restore voting rights to some convicted felons and make it easier to expunge criminal records, among other things. His latest bill would impose the same sentences for powder and crack cocaine offenses. The majority of people arrested for crack cocaine is African-American.

Also coming out strong against police militarization - a campaign he launched in the wake of violent protests that erupted in Ferguson, Missouri last month after an unarmed teenager was shot dead by an officer - Paul argued that while "you want your police to be aggressive," in many drug-related incidents that aggression is taken unreasonably far.

"If someone's got some pot, you want to break down the door at two in the morning with masks and gas and concussion grenades?" he asked. "I think it's a little crazy to have this war on drugs gone so far."

The tactic aimed at minority voters comes as Paul readies a likely bid for the 2016 Republican presidential nomination. He implored his party Thursday to make overtures to return to the GOP's essentially defunct big-tent philosophy.

"The bottom line is, we're not winning," Paul said. "...We're not winning because, it's pretty simple, we don't have enough people in the group yet. The liberty movement has been more open to receiving people of all walks of life... I think we have been much more open, sometimes, than the Republican Party in general."

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Sen. Rand Paul woos minorities in critique against voting, drug laws