Increase in assaults at UT linked to election emotions

Assault reports at the University of Tennessee-Knoxville more than doubled in 2016 and officials say the presidential election may be a factor, reports The Tennessean.

Sixty-four assaults were reported at UT in 2016 compared to 28 in 2015, according to an annual log of campus crime released Thursday by the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation. (Previous post HERE.) In an email, Lt. Mike Richardson with UT police teased a possible connection with the unusually close and controversial campaign.

“Assaults many times are driven by emotion,” Richardson wrote in an email. “2016 was a year that involved a very (contentious) election season, which involved numerous protests in many forms and involved heightened emotion on both sides. We cannot say specifically…every incident was related to this cause, but this could give a reason for such increases.”

UT saw its assault numbers jump higher than most other colleges, but there was an increase statewide. Campuses across Tennessee reported a 21 percent increase in assaults, with 794 assaults reported in 2016 and 657 reported in 2015.