Alarm about student threat to university staff: "Increased for each year"

At the University of Gothenburg, there have been only 28 reported incidents this year, about threats that have gone so far that some form of action is required. Jörgen Svensson is responsible for security at the University of Gothenburg and calls the threats "serious events."

- Over the past three years, the number of incidents, which are so serious that we have to intervene in the security department, has increased every year, he tells SVT News West.

The security department at the University of Gothenburg has previously not provided any statistics on the so-called serious events, but Jörgen Svensson says there have been between 40 cases a year for the past three years.

Svensson took office in 2017, saying that his representative did not at all experience the situation as serious as it is now.

- But we do know, however, that it can go a long way before students or staff report. You want to try to handle it yourself, which is because we expect that there is a dark figure, a threat that we do not know about, he says.

What is behind the increase is still unknown, but Jörgen Svensson believes one of the explanations is increased mental illness. A picture he says he shares with security officers at several other educational institutions around the country.

- It is very rarely about students' disappointment over a tent result. It's about conspiracies and paranoia of different kinds and different odd behaviors, he says.

According to Jörgen Svensson, there are ongoing police investigations, but usually there will be no action against students from the universities. Something he thinks is problematic.

- According to the Higher Education Ordinance, it should be difficult to turn off a student, but when there are students who so obviously make the working environment for students and staff unsustainable, it must be easier to turn off the student, at least for a time, says Jörgen Svensson.

Jörgen Svensson started a network in September to work more methodically in dealing with and preventing hate and threats. The work is done together with security officers at other universities around the country, such as Lund and Uppsala.

But what measures have you taken so far?

- We have set up security guards, even police have to be called, we have support groups for the staff. The Department of Applied IT Use has even been so struggling that the threatening student has been banned from visiting.

What risks do you see if you do not act?

- We see it as a danger that the threats go from word to action.