One of four female college students are victims of an attempted or completed rape, according to the Illinois Coalition Against Sexual Assault.

Female assault victims have options. Support groups exist in DeKalb and at NIU that are open to all college students and community members.

One of these groups is Safe Passage, a member of the Illinois Coalition Against Sexual Assault that provides medical, legal and group counseling for victims. It also has a hotline open 24 hours a day, seven days a week with counselors on call.

“[For assault victims] our initial phone call is to Safe Passage,” said Cindy Graves, director of emergency services at Kishwaukee and Valley West Hospitals.

Staff at Safe Passage go through 60 hours of intensive training in every aspect of domestic and sexual violence.

“Our main concern is facilitating their medical and psychological needs,” Graves said.

Cynthia Folgate of Safe Passage has counseled victims in hospital emergency rooms for six years.

“[The victims] don’t know their rights under the law,” Folgate said. “They have confidentiality with us. They are our focus.”

Safe Passage staff members are also trained in hospital emergency rooms to better understand the immediate condition of assault victims. The emergency department is the first responder in cases of assaulted women, Folgate said.

However, few victims report their attacks. It is an uphill battle to encourage victims to report attacks, especially when nearly 50 percent of women who have been assaulted don’t realize it was rape, according to ICASA.

“To encourage sexual assault victims to receive treatment, the victim’s claims are turned into the state under the Violence Protection Act,” Graves said.

Just last weekend, DeKalb Police investigated two alleged assaults.

Safe Passage’s 24-hour hotline is 815-758-7922.