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Identifying concerning or threatening behavior

 The following behaviors or a combination of them (though not an exhaustive list) may indicate that a person could be a concern to the campus community.  

  • Explicitly making a threat of violence toward another individual or oneself
  • Speaking about possessing or acquiring firearms, or practicing with firearms, and exhibiting other concerning behavior
  • Expressing a justification for violence
  • Exhibiting hostile, aggressive, intimidating, threatening, or violent behavior  
  • Communicating ideas that suggest dangerous or violent alternatives to reasonable problem-solving and a willingness to accept the consequences 
  • Inappropriate or unusual interest in previous violent events and those who committed them
  • Feelings of hopelessness or desperation and ideas of harming others
  • Making known a grievance followed by words or actions that indicate a desire for revenge or "making things right," possibly through violence
  • Threatening, menacing, or harassing behavior by phone, electronic means (social media, text, email), in-person surveillance, or using other people to take these actions
  • Continuing to pursue unreasonable paths after being directed to cease (e.g., persisting in pursuing a sanction reversal after exhausting the established appeal process)
  • Drug and/or alcohol use or abuse, particularly in combination with other factors mentioned above

How to report

  • If you need to report an emergency or are in imminent danger, contact University Police at (847) 491-3456 or call 911.    
  • To report a non-emergency matter involving concerning or threatening behavior, submit a Wildcats Aware: Concerning Behavior Reporting Form. This form can be submitted anonymously. 

Northwestern prohibits knowingly filing reports with false claims and information.