Campus Alert Archive

Aggregate Data

Archive Statistics

2,680 verbatim alerts · 3,249 alert messages · 578 institutions · 1969–2026

Two patterns dominate this archive. First, roughly 34% of cases occur in the August–October return-to-campus window, a seasonal cluster driven by move-in incidents, opening-week events, and fall sports. Second, verbatim confirmation climbs sharply after 2018: among alerts dated 2018 and later, 84% are word-for-word confirmed as Twitter/X archive recovery and university alert-page indexing finally make exact transmitted text recoverable.

The charts below cover incident type, year, state, institution type, resolution, and Clery category. Above all, they show how much of the archive we have recovered word-for-word. This archive is about the exact wording and the sequence of the messages, not response-time analytics; counts here reflect what is documented and findable, not real-world frequency.

About these numbers

This archive is a limited, AI-assembled sample of campus emergency alerts, not a complete or randomly drawn census. Every chart below describes what has been documented here so far, which is shaped by what sources are publicly findable and what has been added to date. Please read these as patterns within this archive, not as statistically representative measures of US campuses overall, and avoid drawing population-level conclusions from them. Spot something wrong or missing? You can help correct or expand it.

Looking for more than counts? The Dataset Notes page describes the collection (message form, preserved channels, how its threat cases resolved) with each note’s method, limits, and evidence published beside it.

Tool · Message structure

Message Element Analyzer

Go beyond the counts: see which of the six warning-message elements (source, hazard, location, guidance, time, impact) each verbatim first alert actually includes.

3,249
Alert messages
Verbatim2,680 · 82%
2,680 of 3,249 alert messages (82%) are verbatim-confirmed.
578
Institutions
55
States & Territories

50 states · 4 territories

2.6
Alerts per case

avg messages in a sequence

1,252
Documented Cases

1969–2026

Geographic Coverage

Cases Across All 55 Jurisdictions

50 U.S. states, Washington D.C., and 4 territories, every corner of American higher education.

How to read this: Tile shading shows the cases documented here per state, which tracks collection effort and findability, not per-capita risk or any state's true number of incidents.

55 states & territories documented · stronger blue = more cases · tap any tile to see its cases

AK: 3 casesME: 11 casesWI: 15 casesVT: 6 casesNH: 4 casesWA: 21 casesID: 8 casesMT: 7 casesND: 2 casesMN: 19 casesIL: 43 casesMI: 41 casesNY: 57 casesMA: 48 casesRI: 10 casesOR: 17 casesNV: 10 casesWY: 3 casesSD: 4 casesIA: 17 casesIN: 27 casesOH: 36 casesPA: 58 casesNJ: 18 casesCT: 14 casesCA: 128 casesUT: 12 casesCO: 23 casesNE: 10 casesMO: 16 casesKY: 20 casesWV: 5 casesVA: 55 casesMD: 22 casesDE: 6 casesAZ: 28 casesNM: 11 casesKS: 7 casesAR: 9 casesTN: 17 casesNC: 48 casesSC: 18 casesDC: 24 casesOK: 11 casesLA: 25 casesMS: 15 casesAL: 17 casesGA: 39 casesHI: 11 casesTX: 93 casesFL: 70 casesGU: 2 casesMP: 3 casesAS: 0 casesPR: 3 casesVI: 5 cases
Cases:
None
1-9
10-29
30-59
60+
Documented cases per state/territory
State/TerritoryCases
CA128
TX93
FL70
PA58
NY57
VA55
MA48
NC48
IL43
MI41
GA39
OH36
AZ28
IN27
LA25
DC24
CO23
MD22
WA21
KY20
MN19
SC18
NJ18
OR17
AL17
TN17
IA17
MO16
WI15
MS15
CT14
UT12
NM11
ME11
HI11
OK11
RI10
NV10
NE10
AR9
ID8
KS7
MT7
DE6
VT6
VI5
WV5
SD4
NH4
MP3
AK3
PR3
WY3
GU2
ND2

Incident Breakdown

What Triggers Campus Alerts

Distribution across 40+ incident types: from active shooters to weather emergencies, gas leaks, and public-health crises.

How to read this: This is the mix of incidents we happen to have documented, not how often each type actually occurs on campuses.

Type Distribution

By Incident Type

top 10
  • shooting164
  • bomb threat120
  • hurricane76
  • swatting70
  • armed person65
  • threat of violence54
  • civil unrest54
  • robbery51
  • police activity49
  • sexual assault44

What to notice: shooting-adjacent reports dominate the record. The cases that rewrote alert language live in the Active Shooters chapter.

Top 10 incident types by case count
InstitutionCases
shooting164
bomb threat120
hurricane76
swatting70
armed person65
threat of violence54
civil unrest54
robbery51
police activity49
sexual assault44

Year Trend

Cases by Year

2007–2026
1762643522007: 420072008: 12009: 320092010: 32011: 120112012: 92013: 1320132014: 122015: 1720152016: 172017: 3720172018: 372019: 5120192020: 282021: 3520212022: 1092023: 13920232024: 3522025: 25120252026: 130

What to notice: coverage is densest where original alert text still survives online. Browse the most recent cases to read today's alert language, or explore the archive year by year on the timeline.

Data for chart: Cases by Year
LabelCount
20074
20081
20093
20103
20111
20129
201313
201412
201517
201617
201737
201837
201951
202028
202135
2022109
2023139
2024352
2025251
2026130

Institution Lens

Who Files the Most Alerts

Institution type, Clery classification, and incident resolution: three views of the same archive from different regulatory angles.

How to read this: This reflects which institutions and categories are represented in the archive so far; it over-represents some types (such as large universities) and under-represents others.

Institution Type

By Institution Type

  • public r1473
  • private r1194
  • community college124
  • public masters100
  • public r293
  • hbcu83
  • private liberal arts53
  • private r244
  • private masters29
  • public bachelors16
  • private bachelors15
  • territory12
  • technical college6
  • for profit5
  • tribal college3
  • military2

What to notice: large publics are over-represented because their alert archives are public and indexed. Browse by institution to find the community colleges, HBCUs, and tribal colleges the archive actively balances toward.

Cases by institution type
InstitutionCases
public r1473
private r1194
community college124
public masters100
public r293
hbcu83
private liberal arts53
private r244
private masters29
public bachelors16
private bachelors15
territory12
technical college6
for profit5
tribal college3
military2

Clery Classification

By Clery Category

411617822emergency notification: 822emergen…timely warning: 203timely …advisory: 201advisorymissing student: 13missing…test: 13test

What to notice: timely warnings are a genre of their own, composed hours after a crime rather than seconds into one. See the timely-warning chapter.

Data for chart: By Clery Category
LabelCount
emergency notification822
timely warning203
advisory201
missing student13
test13

Outcome

By Resolution

348521695confirmed threat: 695confirm…unfounded: 152under investigation: 150under i…confirmed hoax: 143false alarm: 21false a…resolved: 20unknown: 17unknownresolved safely: 5hoax: 4hoaxweather cleared: 4suspect apprehended: 3suspect…all clear: 3fatality: 2fatalityno impact confirmed: 2voluntary end: 2volunta…suspect not apprehended: 2suspect fled: 1suspect…suspect neutralized: 1warning expired no damage: 1warning…suspects at large: 1

What to notice: many cases documented here as active threats resolved as hoax or unfounded. Read the hoax and unfounded cases for the language of standing down.

Data for chart: By Resolution
LabelCount
confirmed threat695
unfounded152
under investigation150
confirmed hoax143
false alarm21
resolved20
unknown17
resolved safely5
hoax4
weather cleared4
suspect apprehended3
all clear3
fatality2
no impact confirmed2
voluntary end2
suspect not apprehended2
suspect fled1
suspect neutralized1
warning expired no damage1
suspects at large1

Leaders & Patterns

States & Institutions in Focus

Top states by documentation volume, and the 12 most-represented institutions in the archive.

How to read this: 'Top' and 'most' here mean most-documented in this archive, which tracks how findable and well-covered a place is as much as any real-world frequency.

State Volume

Top States by Case Count

top 15 of 55
  • CA128
  • TX93
  • FL70
  • PA58
  • NY57
  • VA55
  • MA48
  • NC48
  • IL43
  • MI41
  • GA39
  • OH36
  • AZ28
  • IN27
  • LA25

What to notice: state volume tracks collection effort as much as risk. The institutions index shows exactly what is documented where.

Top 15 states by number of documented cases
InstitutionCases
CA128
TX93
FL70
PA58
NY57
VA55
MA48
NC48
IL43
MI41
GA39
OH36
AZ28
IN27
LA25

Institution Volume

Most-Represented Institutions

top 12 of 578
  • USC · CA13
  • Cornell · NY12
  • Iowa · IA12
  • MSU · MI12
  • UF · FL12
  • CU Boulder · CO11
  • UNM · NM10
  • IU · IN10
  • U-M · MI10
  • Harvard · MA9
  • Temple · PA9
  • BU · MA9

What to notice: repeat appearances usually mean a well-indexed public alert archive, exactly the sources that make word-for-word recovery possible.

Top 12 institutions by number of documented cases, with state and case count.
InstitutionStateCases
USCCA13
CornellNY12
IowaIA12
MSUMI12
UFFL12
CU BoulderCO11
UNMNM10
IUIN10
U-MMI10
HarvardMA9
TemplePA9
BUMA9

Long-Range View

The archive over time

Documented cases span decades. Coverage is densest for recent years, where alert text is easiest to recover.

How to read this: This reflects how findable and well-documented incidents are by era, not real-world frequency.

Long-Range View

Cases by Decade

1969–2026
5227831,0441960s: 11960s1970s: 11970s1990s: 11990s2000s: 82000s2010s: 1972010s2020s: 1,0442020s

What to notice: coverage thins before the SMS era. The chapter narratives trace how alert language evolved decade by decade.

Data for chart: Cases by Decade
LabelCount
1960s1
1970s1
1990s1
2000s8
2010s197
2020s1,044

Archive Authenticity

Verbatim Recovery Over Time

Each column is the total alert messages for that incident year, split into verbatim-confirmed (exact transmitted text) and reconstructed (paraphrased from secondary coverage).

How to read this: This tracks our own progress recovering exact alert wording; it is a measure of the archive itself, not a claim about campus alerts in general.

Authenticity Trend

Verbatim Recovery by Year

verbatimreconstructed
2214426638842011: 5 of 5 verbatim (100%)'112012: 16 of 26 verbatim (62%)'122013: 29 of 47 verbatim (62%)'132014: 24 of 34 verbatim (71%)'142015: 43 of 56 verbatim (77%)'152016: 31 of 43 verbatim (72%)'162017: 134 of 162 verbatim (83%)'172018: 98 of 118 verbatim (83%)'182019: 95 of 112 verbatim (85%)'192020: 62 of 82 verbatim (76%)'202021: 83 of 103 verbatim (81%)'212022: 222 of 270 verbatim (82%)'222023: 283 of 341 verbatim (83%)'232024: 766 of 884 verbatim (87%)'242025: 513 of 621 verbatim (83%)'252026: 256 of 315 verbatim (81%)'26

What to notice: word-for-word recovery is this archive's core work. Browse every verbatim-confirmed case to read the exact transmitted text.

  • 2011: 5 of 5 alert messages verbatim-confirmed (100%).
  • 2012: 16 of 26 alert messages verbatim-confirmed (62%).
  • 2013: 29 of 47 alert messages verbatim-confirmed (62%).
  • 2014: 24 of 34 alert messages verbatim-confirmed (71%).
  • 2015: 43 of 56 alert messages verbatim-confirmed (77%).
  • 2016: 31 of 43 alert messages verbatim-confirmed (72%).
  • 2017: 134 of 162 alert messages verbatim-confirmed (83%).
  • 2018: 98 of 118 alert messages verbatim-confirmed (83%).
  • 2019: 95 of 112 alert messages verbatim-confirmed (85%).
  • 2020: 62 of 82 alert messages verbatim-confirmed (76%).
  • 2021: 83 of 103 alert messages verbatim-confirmed (81%).
  • 2022: 222 of 270 alert messages verbatim-confirmed (82%).
  • 2023: 283 of 341 alert messages verbatim-confirmed (83%).
  • 2024: 766 of 884 alert messages verbatim-confirmed (87%).
  • 2025: 513 of 621 alert messages verbatim-confirmed (83%).
  • 2026: 256 of 315 alert messages verbatim-confirmed (81%).

The verbatim share climbs sharply in recent years as Twitter/X archive recovery and university alert-page indexing make exact wording recoverable. The 2018 inflection point tracks the widespread adoption of social-media alert channels.

Methodology Note

All figures derive from the live data/cases/ directory and recompute at build time. Verbatim confirmation requires a direct source URL; reconstructed alerts are clearly marked. Where a source documents the interval from incident to first alert, that timing is recorded on the case and included in exports; the Findings page reports the distribution of those documented intervals with its inclusion rule and limits stated, never as a sector-wide benchmark. The descriptive counts on this page are plain build-time aggregation; the cross-corpus interpretation on the Findings page is by Claude Fable 5, the model that owns the archive’s analytics layer.