Academic institutions now account for the third-most common location for hate crimes to occur in the United States, according to a report released Monday, Jan. 29, by the Federal Bureau of Investigation.
The report, which included data collected by the agency over a five-year period, found that 4,343 hate crimes took place on school grounds in 2022, accounting for 10% of all bias-based crimes, an increase from 8.2% in 2018.
The data collected by the FBI also notes that the agency collected 13,346 hate crimes last year compared to 4,800 in 2018 with rising tensions over political division and the Israel-Hamas War indicating a further rise in 2023 and beyond.
Hate crime is defined by the justice department as any “crime motivated by bias against race, color, religion, national origin, sexual orientation, gender, gender identity, or disability.”
The most targeted demographic by bias motivated crimes at schools were Black people reporting racist incidents, with antisemitic and anti-LGBTQ offenses following.
A 2022 research poll performed by Gallup and the Lumina Foundation titled “Education for What?” found that of the 6,008 students surveyed, 21% of Black students reported facing some sort of discrimination compared to 15% of all other students in academic institutions. The study found that statistics have contributed to a lower college completion rate among Black students compared to those of other races.
These crimes are not only affecting college campuses, as most offenses have taken place at elementary and secondary schools in the U.S.
The most reported hate crimes on academic grounds were intimidation, vandalism, destruction of property and assault.
The report also noted that 51% of offenders were white, while 21% were Black and 17.4% were of an unknown race.
The data shows that academic grounds are now just behind private residences and roadways, such as alleyways and sidewalks in reported locations for bias-motivated offenses.
While these statistics were gathered from 2018 through 2022, we are likely to see further spikes as discourse over the Israel-Palestine conflict continues on college campuses across the nation with rises in both antisemitic and Islamophobic reports increasing since the declaration of the Israel-Hamas War on October 7. 2023.
The Anti-Defamation League, a Jewish civil rights advocacy group, reported in Nov. 2023 that 72% of Jewish students had experienced antisemitism on campuses since the beginning of the 2023-2024 academic year.
The Council on American-Islamic Relations, a Muslim civil rights advocacy group, released a statement issued a letter to the U.S. House Committee on Education and The Workforce stating that the organization saw 1,283 reports of Islamophobic hate crimes since the Israel-Hamas War, marking a 216% increase from the previous year.
Instances of these rising crimes include the antisemitic threats that targeted the Jewish Community of Cornell University last October. Meanwhile, last week, on Monday, Jan. 19, pro-Palestinian protesters were sprayed by chemicals by fellow students on the campus of Columbia University.
While these reports of hate crimes show a rise of hate crimes at academic institutions in the United States, these crimes are often underreported by both victims and law enforcement agencies.
A 2023 National Institute of Justice study titled “Using Research to Improve Hate Crime Reporting and Identification” by Kaitlyn Sill, social science research analyst, and Paul Haskins, doctor of law and writer-editor, these crimes are often underreported by both victims and law enforcement agencies.
The study reads, “While it is known that hate crimes are underreported throughout the United States, there is not a clear understanding of exactly why reporting rates are low, to what extent, and what might be done to improve them.”
