Elmhurst College and the City of Elmhurst (Ill.) Police Department have determined the alleged hate crime attack on a Muslim student never occurred.

The 19-year-old student, Safia Z. Jilani, was arrested Friday and charged with one count of filing a false police report, according to an Elmhurst Police Department press release. She now faces one to three years in prison for the felony.

Elmhurst Chief of Police Steve Neubauer said the specific details of what the tipping point was for police are being held for Jilani's trial. He said three detectives investigated the incident for a week before determining it never happened.

"There was a feeling of disbelief and people were a bit suspicious," Neubauer said. "Elmhurst is pretty embracing to diversity and many people were offended that someone would do that."

Elmhurst College Director of Public Relations Charles Henderson said that while police determined the "attack" on Oct. 9 was fake, the question of whether the graffiti that appeared on Jilani's locker on Oct. 2 is still unanswered.

Henderson said the college held a meeting yesterday for students to voice their opinions about the event.

"It's still fresh," he said. "The emotions run the gamut."

Kim Schaefer, a freshman music business major at Elmhurst, said news of the attack definitely heightened the level of tension on campus.

"I felt kind of unsafe," Schaefer said. "There was a collective sigh of relief that it wasn't real. I'm worried that people will lose respect for the Muslim students even though it was just one person."