New Study of Targeted Violence Affecting U.S. Institutions of Higher Education
Each week, the Higher Education Center showcases recent developments in the field of AOD abuse and violence prevention in higher education that may include new data and resources, upcoming events and programs, funding opportunities, and learning opportunities. To see a listing of previous This Week! features, visit the This Week! archive.
April 23, 2010
The U.S. Secret Service, the U.S. Department of Education and the Federal Bureau of Investigation jointly released a study of targeted violence incidents on U.S. campuses of higher learning. The study and its findings will be available on each of the agencies' Web sites: www.secretservice.gov, www.ed.gov, and www.fbi.gov.
In response to the Virginia Tech incident on April 16, 2007, former Cabinet Secretaries Michael Leavitt and Margaret Spellings, and former Attorney General Alberto Gonzales submitted a Report to the President on Issues Raised by the Virginia Tech Tragedy dated June 13, 2007. The report included a recommendation that the U.S. Secret Service, U.S. Department of Education and the Federal Bureau of Investigation explore the issue of violence at institutions of higher education. Accordingly, the three agencies initiated a collaborative effort, the goal of which was to understand the scope of the problem of targeted violence at these institutions in the United States.
In total, 272 incidents were identified through a comprehensive search of more than 115,000 results in open-source reporting from 1900 to 2008. The findings are pertinent and far-reaching, and the incidents studied include all forms of targeted violence, ranging from domestic violence to serial killers.
Editor's Note: For questions concerning the study or its findings, contact the U.S. Secret Service Office of Government and Public Affairs at 202-406-5708, the Department of Education Office of Public Affairs at 202-401-1576, or the FBI Office of Public Affairs at 202-324-3691.