Campus Alert Archive
Seven Chapters,
One Archive
The archive is large and the cases repeat each other in instructive ways. These seven chapters group every case by incident genre so the patterns (the language of uncertainty, the 131-minute delay, the all-clear that comes too soon) surface where you can read them across institutions and decades.
Chapter 1
Active Shooters
The cases that rewrote the playbook.
If a single incident can be said to have created the modern campus alert, it is the Virginia Tech shooting of April 16, 2007. A 22-year-old student killed two people in West Ambler Johnston Hall at 7:15 AM. The first…
- UNMFatal overnight shooting at the campus edge; morning alert said the scene was cleared
- UNMFirearm pulled and pointed at three people during a basketball-court altercation
- HarvardAdvisory after a man fired over 50 rounds at vehicles near campus; two wounded
Chapter 2
Bomb Threats & Swatting
The language of uncertainty.
Bomb threats and swatting calls force a problem that active-shooter alerts never have: the threat is almost always not real, and the institution knows that statistically as it composes the message. The alerts in this…
- UOTelephoned bomb threat clears the track stadium a day before the NCAA championships
- NAUBomb threat, May 14, 2026
- UOPhoned shooting threat clears the recreation center; assessed as a swatting hoax
Chapter 3
Hazardous Materials & Infrastructure
When the building itself is the threat.
Gas leaks, chemical spills, infrastructure failures, and fires occupy a quieter corner of this archive (95 cases, a fraction of the active-shooter chapter's total) but they are also the genre where institutional alert…
- IllinoisHazardous materials incident, May 30, 2026
- BGSUGas leak, May 13, 2026
- USFTwo-alarm fire destroyed the marine science laboratory; no injuries
Chapter 4
Severe Weather
Nature's emergencies on campus.
Weather is the genre that taught American universities how to communicate over hours and days, not seconds and minutes. The 198 cases in this chapter document tornado warnings, hurricane evacuations, severe storms,…
- UASevere storm, May 6, 2026
- BaylorTornado watch prompts campus alert; watch canceled before its expiration
- JMUSevere storm, April 25, 2026
Chapter 5
Interpersonal Violence & Sex Offenses
The timely-warning cases of everyday campus safety.
The 177 cases in this chapter all sit under one Clery Act category, the timely warning, and that legal category is the reason the chapter exists as a discrete genre. A timely warning is not the same thing as an…
- UMNVictim struck and robbed of his vehicle by three masked suspects; car later recovered
- UWStudent fatally stabbed in a housing laundry room; suspect surrendered days later
- UCSBRape and strangulation reported in campus housing; timely warning issued within hours
Chapter 6
Missing Persons
A distinct alert genre under HEOA 2008.
The 16 cases in this chapter are a small but distinct corner of the archive. Missing-student notifications are governed by the Higher Education Opportunity Act of 2008 (HEOA), not by the Clery Act, and the legal…
- UMaineMissing person, January 24, 2026
- MizzouStudent went missing on a fraternity trip; body recovered from a river two weeks later
- TAMU-CCMissing-student notification issued; remains later found in a wastewater well
Chapter 7
Other Emergencies
Edge cases that reveal the most.
The 265 cases in this chapter are the ones that don't fit cleanly into any of the other six categories: police activity that was not active-shooter or armed-person, building lockdowns triggered by something other than a…
- LSC-TomballOverheard rifle threat in the library prompts 30-minute lockdown; no weapon found
- UICPolice activity at a campus address; all-clear issued the same day
- UIUCCampus alert, May 7, 2026