In the wake of recent escalations and attacks involving members of college and university communities, the authors explore a specific and detailed investigation of how a student, faculty, or staff's radical ideologies can move from strongly held beliefs to extremist violence. Using a case study methodology in addition to a literature review, the authors identify and summarize 30 cases of violence or terrorism motivated by an ideological belief to identify the factors related to violent extremism. This article examines risk factors for violent extremism, mobilization factors contributing to violent actions, and protective factors that reduce the potential for violence to provide a risk assessment model for college and university behavioral intervention teams or threat assessment teams.
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