Law would protect against sexual violence

As college graduation season approaches, it is a time of great joy and celebration for thousands of Illinois families.

But for too many undergraduate students, the promises of graduation day are replaced by pain and loss.

Sexual violence has become a part of the college experience for an alarming number of young women and some men. One in five undergraduate women will become a victim of sexual assault before they graduate. In fact, the U.S. Department of Education reports that women between the ages of 16 and 24 experience the highest rates of sexual assault of any group of women.

Yet these crimes are rarely reported. Over 90 percent of sexual assaults on college campuses go unreported because survivors do not trust authorities will believe them, much less that their attackers will be brought to justice.

Sadly, they are not wrong. According to the U.S. Department of Education, college campuses reported over 5,000 forcible sex offenses in 2013. However, 41 percent of colleges and universities have not conducted an investigation of sexual violence on their campus in five years.

Even when incidents are reported, assailants are rarely held accountable.

As elected officials and as mothers, this is unacceptable. We must do more to protect young women. Vice President Joe Biden visited the University of Illinois last week to stress just that. We hope that by focusing on this issue at our state's flagship university, it will encourage state legislators to support a measure that will ensure colleges and universities become part of the solution to this epidemic.

The Preventing Sexual Violence on Campus Act seeks to improve how Illinois institutions prevent and respond to sexual violence, so that every student in Illinois is protected under the fullest extent of the law.

Lisa Madigan, Illinois Attorney General

Bridget Gainer, Cook County Commissioner

Toi Hutchinson, State Senator

Michelle Mussman, State Representative