Mars Hill University

College Educated Students Joining Foreign Terrorist Organizations

Jonathan Scalf

S000192011

Dr. Taylor Brickley

Research Methods

May 4, 2015

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College educated students joining foreign terrorist organizations is a new phenomenon

that has presented itself to the world over the past few months and has occurred alongside the

emergence and progression of the terrorist group known as the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria,

commonly referred to as ISIS. Recently, ISIS has made great advances in their conquest to

establish a caliphate in the Middle East. As they continue to conquer more territory many citizens

around the world, including American citizens, are traveling overseas to join ISIS and other

terrorist organizations (Strobel, 2015). Included in these citizens are college educated young

adults. More college educated students are choosing to take their degrees and knowledge

overseas to assist terrorist groups in their fight against western civilization instead of staying in

their homeland and obtaining a job in the field in which they studied while attending college.

Why are college educated students deciding to join terrorist organizations since the emergence

and progression of ISIS? This is the question that my proposed research will attempt to answer.

Just the phrase ‘college educated students’ poses immediate problems for the countries of

origin of these students. The fact that terrorist organizations are able to successfully recruit

young adults with college education and/or degrees creates problems for the governments and

criminal justice departments within the western world. This issue is very important to the

criminal justice and political science area of study because terrorism directly affects the people

within these areas. Terrorist groups having college education within their organizations creates

new problems for the people fighting to put an end to terrorism; these groups now have critical

thinkers and people that are far more educated than in previous years. This means that more,

smarter, and more creative terrorist attacks against the western world are imminent. For example,

a terrorist group known as Al Shabaab called for an attack on the Mall of America in a video that

was released to the media on February 23. Al Shabaab has not been engaged in multimedia

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threats until recently, the same time college educated students have been identified traveling

overseas and joining organizations such as these. In the 21st century multimedia is used every

day, especially by Universities, and college educated students have access to this technology and

understand how to use it. We need to figure out why college educated students are taking their

skills overseas so we can try and put a stop to this issue before it becomes too big for the western

world to eliminate.

Literature Review

There is an old adage that states “one group’s terrorist is another group’s freedom

fighter”. We must understand this in order to successfully launch a combative objective against

terrorism. The majority of terrorist attacks, today, are religiously motivated and the individuals

who commit these acts see their actions as altruistic and they believe what they are doing is right

(Kurzman, 2012). As Americans, we view terrorist acts as radical extremism, which it is, but we

must be able to view the actions through the eyes of the perpetrators in order to fully understand

the force driving terrorism and how to eliminate it. There is an enormous amount of research

available that addresses the issue of terrorism, however there is barely any research regarding

why college students are deciding to join foreign terrorist organizations. We know there has been

an increase in U.S citizens who acted as operatives for foreign terrorist organizations since 2009

(U.S. Department of State, 2010).

Since 9/11, there has been an increase in domestic terrorism inspired by the Global Salafi

Jihad ideology (Wright, 2011). Some of the individuals who undergo radicalization are U.S.

College and university students (Wright, 2011). According to Wright there are four stages of

radicalization that an ordinary individual will go through while adopting a violent Islamic

extremist mindset: Pre-Radicalization, Self-Identification, Indoctrination, and Jihadization.

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During these stages the individual will begin to search the internet and identify with a terrorist

group and begin to devote much of their time to militant extremist websites. They will eventually

reach the Jihadization stage, which is the stage of radicalization where an attack is planned and

executed. Her research states that that majority of these individuals are primarily Muslim males

between 15 and 35 years of age (Wright, 2011). As mentioned earlier college and university

students are becoming radicalized. This poses a specific challenge for law enforcement because

many of these individuals have no criminal record and are too difficult to identify in the

radicalization process. Individuals have a tendency to seek out other like-minded individuals

with whom to establish a social group and this occurs even more in college students. For students

struggling to understand themselves, their religion, and their place in society, college- and

university-based organizations can become forums for conveying radical messages in a way that

resonates with the students (Silber & Bhatt, 2007; Wright, 2011).

Psychologists have been researching for years trying to determine what leads an

individual to join a terrorist organization and what type of characteristics that would explain

terrorists’ willingness to engage in violence (DeAngelis, 2009). Researchers have also been

trying to understand the radicalization process of a terrorist. Psychologist John Horgan,

who directs the Pennsylvania State University's International Center for the Study of Terrorism,

conducted interviews with 60 former terrorists and found that people who are more open to

terrorist recruitment and radicalization tend to feel angry, alienated or disenfranchised, believe

that their current political involvement does not give them the power to effect real change,

identify with perceived victims of the social injustice they are fighting, feel the need to take

action rather than just talking about the problem, believe that engaging in violence against the

state is not immoral, have friends or family sympathetic to the cause, and believe that joining a

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movement offers social and psychological rewards such as adventure, camaraderie and a

heightened sense of identity (DeAngelis, 2009). This type of information is useful to

understanding the typical characteristics of a person during the terrorist radicalization process,

however it does not address college students specifically. Therefore, we are not sure it explains

why college educated students are suddenly joining foreign terrorist organizations such as ISIS.

Several studies have found that people who carry out terrorist attacks tend to be better

educated and more advantaged than members of the population from which they are drawn

(Berrebi, 2008; Krueger and Maleckova, 2003; Russell and Miller, 1983; Sageman, 2004)

(Kruegar, 2008). This includes suicide attacks, suicide bombers are highly educated and are

considered the best of the best (Pape, 2003). Highly educated individuals reside within terrorist

organizations, which scares the United States because these intelligent individuals will be able to

think of and orchestrate more creative and devastating terrorist attacks against the country. Three

interlocking trends have significantly changed the nature and degree of the threat of terrorism:

the globalization of commerce, travel, and information transfer; the ascent of religious

fundamentalism as an aggrieved competitor with the trends of modernity; and the privatization of

weapons of mass destruction (Victoroff, 2005). I agree with Victoroff; however based on the

information cited above it would be wise to include a fourth variable that increases the nature

and degree of the threat of terrorism; the fact that terrorist organizations are able to successfully

recruit college educated students from the western world.

Domestic terrorism is also on the rise within the United States; since 9/11, the nation's

attention has been focused on possible threats from Islamic terrorists, but home-grown terrorists

have been steadily plotting and carrying out attacks in unrelated incidents across the nation

(Copeland, 2004). There were more than 20 terrorist plots by non-Muslims in the United States

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in 2010, including an attack perpetrated by Joseph Stack, who flew a plane into an IRS building

in Austin, Texas (Kurzman, 2011). The individuals who planned and carried out these terrorist

plots were mainly white, American citizens. Since 2010, instead of committing domestic terrorist

acts these individuals are buying plane tickets to the Middle East to join terrorist groups such as

ISIS. Just recently, these individuals have been identified as college students and in some cases

these students have a four-year college degree. Findings suggest that domestic terrorism can spill

over to transnational terrorism, so that prime-target countries cannot ignore domestic terrorism

abroad and may need to assist in curbing this homegrown terrorism (Enders, Sandler &

Gaibulloev 2011). This kind of research points to the idea of college students joining foreign

terrorist organizations.

The studies I discussed in the previous pages help explain terrorism and why people of

Islamic background join and commit terrorist acts, but they are insufficient when trying to

understand why college educated students are joining transnational terrorist organizations.

College students joining terrorist groups was not a frequent occurrence until late in year of 2014.

This phenomenon has only been occurring frequently for the past 8 months which is why

research is lacking in this area. We do not know why five students from College de Maisonneuve

in Canada left to join ISIS and we do not know students are continuing to do this, but we need to

do the research and figure it out before foreign terrorist organizations have more Americans than

nationals in their groups. The research previously mentioned shows exactly what to look for

during the radicalization phase of individuals; however we are not catching these college

students in that phase. We are not looking for college educated students to radicalize and join

terrorist groups because there is no research to point to show this is a problem.

Previous research has mainly focused on individuals of Islamic faith whom reside in the

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Middle East because they are considered the major threat. However, the major threat has changed

and found its way inside the western world and we need to switch focus from the Middle East to

the western world. The piece of research mentioned earlier in the proposal, written by the U.S.

Department of State in 2010, that states there is an increase in U.S citizens joining terrorist

groups and committing terrorist acts and another piece of research I mentioned, written by

Wright in 2011, that states college students are undergoing radicalization within the United

States is vital, but it leaves many unanswered questions. We need to take this type of research a

step farther and answer the question ‘why’ instead of the question ‘what’. This research also does

not investigate the increase in college students joining terrorist cells since the emergence of ISIS.

There may be a correlation between these two variables and while correlation does not imply

causation it may lead us to factors that are responsible for this increase. Additionally, this

research fails to provide suggestions on how combat this issue so it does not answer or attempt to

answer the question of how to prevent these students from affiliating themselves with terrorist

organizations.

I would like to pursue the following question: “Why are college educated students joining

foreign terrorist organizations since the emergence of ISIS?” Terrorism is a very controversial

topic and ISIS has also been making national headlines recently. There have been numerous

news reports stating that college students are traveling to the Middle East to join ISIS and other

terrorist organizations. This is very different than the major terrorist groups we have dealt with in

the past such as Al Qaeda (AQ). Al Qaeda never recruited college students to fight for them or

carry out terrorist acts on their behalf. This research question is very relevant to today’s threat of

terrorism and may result in ways to stop to limit or even stop this phenomenon from spreading.

College educate students joining foreign terrorist organizations, specifically ISIS, is happening

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and ISIS is successfully recruiting and radicalizing these individuals while still in their

homeland. I want to pursue this research question in hopes of finding an answer on how to

prevent this and also why this is occurring.

Rationale

I want to study why college educated students are joining and fighting for foreign

terrorist organizations since the emergence of ISIS. I hypothesize the results of my study will

show that some college students within the western world agree with the actions ISIS has taken.

Many of these students believe in the cause of ISIS and other terrorist groups, to fight against the

established government. These students feel as if the United States, Canada, or the United

Kingdom is headed in the wrong direction in regards to governmental and societal rule of law.

They have many pessimistic views of their home country and want to find a way to fight against

it; terrorism gives them that way to fight. These college educated students see ISIS, Al-Shabaab,

Boko Haram, and other terrorist organizations fighting for what they believe in; fighting for a

common goal. They like the ideology that drives these terrorist organizations and they want to be

a part of the change. They do not want to sit back and join their country’s way of life because

they disagree with it; they want to enact change. Joining a terrorist group gives them a way to

make changes and makes them feel useful.

In their homelands these college students feel as if they are overlooked and that their

voice does not matter when it comes to governmental changes. Instead of graduating and getting

a job in their career of choice these students are finding a different alternative in terrorism.

Terrorism, in a way, gives these students a way out of a life of underachievement. These students

may not come from the best homes and they may have a troubled family history. I also

hypothesize that these students know exactly what they are getting into and understand the

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consequences of their actions. They take the time to use the internet as their main source of

radicalization and ISIS knows this so they can easily connect with these students through the

web. These students are the first to make contact with members of ISIS and then are recruited by

the terrorist organization and fly over to join the ranks.

To test my hypothesis I am going to use strain of anomie theory founded by Emile

Durkheim. This theory states that social structures within society may pressure citizens to

commit crimes. This theory best describes this phenomenon of college students joining terrorist

organizations. Social structures such as the government, federal and state, have driven these

students to join terrorist groups and commit heinous acts. Strain theory also states that strain

occurs when there is a discrepancy in goals one wants to achieve and the means one has to obtain

them. Now, this theory is usually reserved to be synonymous with the broken windows theory,

but the goals these students have in mind are quite different than the goals of the underprivileged.

As I mentioned earlier, these students want to enact change within the government, but they

cannot do that because their voice is either not heard or does not carry enough weight. In order

for them to achieve this goal they turn to a life of terrorism.

If my hypothesis is confirmed it will show that the governments of the western world,

although developed, still need to work to appease all of their citizens to the best of their ability.

Considering college educated students are the future of this world they should be one of the main

focuses of governmental decisions. It will show that the system contains flaws, which we already

knew, but it will be able to pinpoint exactly where those flaws are and we can work to address

them systematically. It will also show that it is entirely too easy for citizens to access

transnational terrorist organizations. This will show that we need to adjust communication laws

regarding contact with members of terrorist organizations. ISIS and other terrorist groups are

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very intelligent and understand how to use the internet and they are able to easily access and

recruit citizens of the western world. If confirmed, my hypothesis will show a need for a change

in law in order to eliminate communication with terrorist groups. Governments of the western

world are able to monitor terrorist websites, but they have not yet eliminated the ability of

citizens to communicate and radicalized with terrorist groups. So, there needs to be a change in

law to combat this issue at the source.

If my hypothesis is confirmed it will also have implications in the political science field

as well. This information could help lead to new ways to combat terrorism and fight the “War on

Terror”. College students joining these terrorist organizations has created a new threat within

terrorism and if my hypothesis proves valid then we may be able to create a viable strategy to not

only continue to counter terrorist acts, but also prevent more college educated students from

joining terrorist groups. If we can prevent students from joining ISIS and other terrorist groups

before it becomes an even bigger problem then we may finally be able to get one step ahead of

the terrorists instead of always being one step behind. That is another main reason this research

should be done; being able to be ahead of the terrorists in this constant battle is a major factor we

have been missing in our counter terrorism strategies.

Regarding the political science field, my hypothesis, if confirmed, will also attack an

aspect of ISIS that we have failed to render useless; the internet. If my hypothesis can prove that

these students are radicalizing and being recruited by ISIS and other terrorist groups over the

internet then we can finally have some documentation that will give us the ability to take down

the communication ability of terrorists. Without capable communication and access to the

internet these modern day terrorist organizations will not be able to operate efficiently. They will

have a difficult time recruiting individuals, especially college students, and raising money. These

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two abilities are key components of successful functioning terrorist groups. The internet is the

main source of terrorist groups, specifically ISIS, and taking that aspect of terrorism away from

them decreases their functionality. This will also suggest that we need to establish a single entity

focused on monitoring internet access among terrorists and U.S. citizens. Currently the task is

charged to all of the federal agencies and it is not a priority among any of them. Giving one

agency full control of monitoring internet use and access will help with trying to catch citizens in

the radicalization phase of terrorism.

If my hypothesis is disconfirmed it may show that the governments of the western world

are not the source of the problem and there is another reason why these college students feel the

need to join terrorist organizations. We might need to focus more on the students themselves

instead of the government giving these students a reason to join terrorist groups. If disconfirmed,

my hypothesis may also show that the governments of the western world do not need to change

or alter their laws that pertain to its citizens, particularly college students. It may also show that it

is not relatively easy for these college students to access terrorist organizations through the

internet and that these students are ambitious and eager to join terrorist organizations so they are

circumventing the system in order to obtain access to terrorist groups. So, the government would

not have to change laws or access regarding terrorist groups and the internet because if these

college students are motivated to join terrorist groups and commit terrorist acts then they will

find a way.

Regarding the political science field, my hypothesis, if disconfirmed, will suggest that we

are no closer to ending the war on terror. It will show that this phenomenon of college educated

students joining ranks with terrorist organizations does not create a new and viable way to

combat terrorism. We will need to not focus our efforts on shutting down the internet access to

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terrorists, but focus our efforts on monitoring the internet use more closely. It will also suggest

that there is no need to give complete control of internet use and access to one single entity

within the federal governments. We will also need to focus research on something other than

college educated students in order to find a way to limit and eventually eliminate terrorism.

Methodology and Design

The methodology I plan to utilize will include the distribution of surveys. I will contact

roughly 20 schools, which will translate to around 40,000 students, and try to get permission to

distribute a survey throughout the population of the college. The best way to accomplish this is to

send the survey to all of the students through a campus wide email. The survey will include

questions regarding basic demographics such as age and gender (refer to appendix B). Other

questions will pertain to the respondent’s view of terrorist groups, specifically ISIS and also

views on the federal government.

One of the schools I want to include is the College de Maisonneuve in Canada,

mentioned earlier in this proposal. This is the college that saw five students leave to join and

fight of ISIS. I also want to distribute the survey to a few colleges in the different regions of the

United States; the Northeast, Southeast, southwest, etc. I will do this by gathering a list of all

colleges within the different states and different regions. I want to limit the colleges included to

four-year Universities because these are the types of institutions we have seen these students

come from. Once I have the list of colleges I will use a simple random sampling method. I will

chronologically number the colleges and use a random number generator to randomly select

which schools I distribute the survey to.

This is the best method for this type of research question because a survey can be done

quickly and efficiently. Also, surveying college students will result views from the subjects that I

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am researching. So, I will retrieve direct answers from my subjects and not from a third party

source. Including different colleges from different regions of the United States will ensure that I

get opinions from a diverse group of people and not just one portion of the population. In order

to do this type of research it is important that one does it as efficient as possible and actually

trying to conduct interviews or face to face meetings with college students is not feasible. I

realize not all of the surveys will be completed or even taken, but with such a large sample size I

will be able to receive a good amount of completed surveys.

In my study I want to do my research on college educated students. That means I want to

look at traditional students that are currently enrolled, full-time or part-time, in a four-year

university. A four-year university is a college that allows for students to obtain a bachelor’s

degree or higher. Traditional students are those students that are either considered a freshman,

sophomore, junior, or senior by the university. I do not want to look at adult graduate students. I

want to study these students and see if I can find a reason as to why some of them have decided

to join foreign terrorist organizations. What I mean by foreign terrorist organizations is groups

that use violence and fear to induce political change and have been identified as terrorist

organizations by the United States government. There terrorist organizations reside within third

world countries, which are developing countries within Africa, Asia and Latin America. Third

world countries are not modernized, which means they do not have access to healthcare,

legitimate law enforcement, or even housing. Terrorist organizations identified by the United

States include ISIS in the Middle East, Boko Haram in Nigeria, Hamas in the Gaza Strip,

Hezbollah in Lebanon, Lashkar-e-Taiba in Pakistan, Al-Shabaab in Somalia, Al Qaeda in Iraq,

Al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb, and Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula.

These college educated students that I want to examine will be my research subjects.

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They will be the ones taking the survey I provide. I need to examine these students because they

are the population that we are seeing join terrorist groups more recently. They are also a very

dangerous threat once they have joined forces with terrorist organizations because they

impeccably intelligent. These students I want to examine will be fairly young, mostly between

the ages of 18 and 25. Since I am going to distribute surveys to many different colleges around

the United States and one college in Canada the respondents will hail from a variety of socio-

economic backgrounds. Some will come from families that have much more money than others.

This is exactly what I want so I will be able to pinpoint which socio-economic backgrounds

contribute to the likelihood of college students engaging in this type of activity. There will be a

mix of males and females as well as a mix of intelligence levels. I am not going to narrow my

research down to a specific sub group of college educated students because no one is sure exactly

which type of students are more prone to join foreign terrorist organizations. Which is why the

best way to try and understand this is by studying all types of students and once we have some

documented research we will be able to determine which students should be watched more

closely.

There is no feasible or efficient way to examine the entire population of college educated

students and ensure that everyone is accounted for. That being said the best way to understand

the population is to take a relatively large sample that we will later be able to generalize to the

population. I briefly mentioned my sampling procedure earlier, but allow me to elaborate. I am

going to break up the United States into six different regions; the northeast, southeast, southwest,

middle states, mountain states, and west (refer to appendix A). I am going obtain a list of every

four-year university within each region and chronologically order them. Once each university in

a region is numbered I will use a random number generator to choose three numbers for me. I

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will find the college corresponding to the number and distribute my survey to student body of

that university. I will do this for each region giving me eighteen different universities to survey. I

will also distribute the survey to the College de Maisonneuve. I will have a grand total of

nineteen universities that will complete this survey. The most efficient way to distribute my

survey is through the campus wide email for each university. I will contact the registrar’s office

of each school to gain permission and proceed from there.

This is the best sampling method because there is no other efficient way to sample a large

amount of individuals. Aside from being efficient it will be relatively inexpensive to create and

distribute these surveys. Not every student will finish or even take the survey, which I

understand, but the majority of students will because it is so relevant to what is happening in the

world today. Every study that has ever utilized surveys has not always had a 100% response rate,

but they still use surveys and they can still receive accurate results. The number of students that

do complete the survey will be large enough for me to examine and make conclusions about the

population I am studying.

My survey will go out to the entire student body of each university, but I only want to

study undergraduate students, those that fill the role of freshman, sophomore, junior, and senior.

The participants I will exclude from this study include students that are enrolled in some type of

graduate program or adult studies. I will also exclude any individual over the age of 25 or

younger than the age of 17. The reason for excluding these participants is simply for the fact that

the college educated students joining terrorist organizations are within the age range I specified. I

do not want to include individuals who are enrolled in college and may be younger than 17 or

older than 25 because they may skew the results of my study. This is the same reasoning I want

to exclude adult graduate students. If a student has entered graduate school then they are more

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committed to the furtherance of their education and less likely to leave and join a terrorist

organization. Including these students will also increase the time it will take to obtain the results

and also increase the amount of money needed to perform this research.

A major factor that I need to control for is outside influence. I need to try to eliminate or,

more realistically, limit influence on respondents by other students or faculty or the university. I

need the answers of the students to be their own and not shared opinions among peers. One way I

plan to do this is to state, on the survey and to the person I make contact with inside the

university, that it is important that the surveys are taken individually. However, I cannot ensure

that this happens. The surveys are taken at the same time by individuals, I may not obtain

accurate responses because some students may not want to openly share their views on the

subject of terrorism; whether they are positive or negative.

I am conducting my research through the use of a survey, so I do not plan to present any

type of stimulus. It would not make very much sense to do so because the results would not

really provide any useful information. It would not provide any useful information because we

do not know why these college students are joining terrorist organizations or what the driving

force is behind this phenomenon. Further studies regarding this topic may be better suited to

present a stimulus, but my research is only attempting to uncover which college students are

more prone to join terrorist organizations and why they feel the need to do this. Before we take

this research any farther by introducing experiments or any other type of stimulus we have to

understand the basics of this issue. The basics of course being why are these college students

doing this. Once we are able to gather some information and build a foundation to the answer of

this question then this can serve as a basis for further research with the possibility of introducing

some sort of medium.

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I hypothesize that these college educated students are joining foreign terrorist

organizations because they see these terrorist groups taking action and standing up for what they

believe in. These college students do not see individuals within ISIS as terrorists, they see them

as freedom fighters. They want to be a part of a group that is actually enacting change and not

sitting around in a room debating. The college students want to be a part of what ISIS and other

terrorist groups are doing because they do not believe in their homeland government any longer.

They want to change the way the government operates within their country, but they know they

cannot do it on their own. They cannot make any changes because their voice will not be heard.

So these college students are turning towards a life of terrorism in order to take action against

their own established governments. These students want to make a statement to their homeland

country. The data I gather from my research will be able to confirm this hypothesis for me.

My hypothesis can be confirmed by my data because the survey I am distributing

involves questions regarding terrorism and the federal government in which the college students

reside. Once I distribute my surveys to all of the universities and they are completed and returned

to me I will be able to examine all of them and look for patterns among them. The patterns I will

look for will include certain demographical answers paired with certain answers regarding

terrorism, specifically ISIS, and the federal government. I am mainly looking for individuals who

agree with the use of terrorism and do not have very high opinions regarding their federal

government. Once I separate those individuals from the rest of my sample I will be able to

examine patterns within that group to further confirm my hypothesis. I will look for patterns

within that group that include gender, age, employment, student debt and other items within the

survey. Once I find these patterns I will be able to compare them to the profiles of the college

students that have already made the trip overseas to join ISIS and other terrorist groups. The

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patterns found within my surveys may match the profiles of the college students who have

already joined terrorist groups and this would be a great success. If I am able to find these

patterns within my survey then this data will confirm my hypothesis, but if I cannot find any

patterns then my hypothesis will be disconfirmed.

Once I receive the completed surveys and take the time to examine them closely I should

find a pattern than can explain this phenomenon. However, if I find no patterns, for whatever

reason, then my data will not be able to confirm my hypothesis and I will have to create a new

and better research method. However, this is highly unlikely because I am gathering such a large

sample there is a high possibility that patterns will exist. The problem that exists, as it does with

all surveys, is the possibility that my respondents did not answer truthfully. Additionally, if I do

find patterns within the surveys but they do not match the profiles of the college students who

have already joined terrorist groups then my hypothesis will be disconfirmed by data. If this

occurs then the patterns I find may not be related to terrorism, but to something else.

My results will not apply to everyone, everywhere at all times, nor do the majority of

results from studies. Since college students joining terrorist organizations is a fairly new

phenomenon I am limited in what I can do as far as research. However, distributing a survey and

analyzing them is a very viable method that will yield useful results. There are many limitations

to my research because I am not able to survey the entire population; I must rely on a sample.

Using this method I run the risk of my sample not being representative of the population, but it is

difficult to access the entire population under study. By utilizing survey data I also run the risk of

my results not being entirely truthful because the survey may not be taken honestly and/or

seriously by some respondents. Additionally, the survey may not be taken at all by some of the

students and this may potentially skew the results.

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As with the majority of results gathered from research mine will not bode true for every

single person. Every individual is different and unique and it is impossible to explain everyone

from a single study. There will always be exceptions to results when performing research, but the

main reason we conduct research is to get an idea of the ‘typical’ case, not every individual case.

There may be underlying or lurking variables that cause some college students to engage in

terrorist activities that I may be unaware of. There may be a college student who joins a terrorist

group on impulse and it may not be related directly back to any one variable. Trying to

understand human behavior is a difficult task, but conducting research is a very good way to do

that and this proposed research would improve the criminal justice field and provide some much

needed insight regarding this topic.

Conclusion

This proposed research would lead to a significant improvement over the previous studies

done on this topic because there is no research out there on this specific topic. Other studies that

have been done on this issue I mentioned earlier in this proposal. They are good studies that give

us an idea of what is going on with the issue of Americans joining terrorist organizations, but

they fail to address the current problem of college students joining rather than just Americans in

general. Any American citizen leaving the homeland to join and be active in a terrorist

organization overseas is a major problem; however the joining of terrorist groups by college

students is a more significant threat. There are no studies that have been done that addresses this

issue, which is why this research needs to be done.

This research will also be able to pave the way for others to do similar research regarding

this topic. As of now there is no documentation to examine to be able to determine another way

to research this important issue. This research will provide that basis and hopefully lead to more

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research being done on this topic. Now, there is sufficient research regarding the topic of

terrorism and terrorist acts around the world. However, the majority of the research is imbedded

in the nationals that join terrorist groups and not individuals that join from outside countries. I

want to move away from this type of research and venture into a new area that has yet to be

discovered. This new phenomenon has taken over news coverage in the United States and other

first world countries because it is such a brand new occurrence. In the past decade a few

individuals have been caught joining terrorist groups, but it did not receive as much attention

because they were of the same religion and ethnicity as the organization they were joining.

However, the citizens of today that are leaving their homeland and traveling over the Atlantic

Ocean to join terrorist organizations are not of the same religion or ethnicity of the groups they

aspire to join. It is for this reason that this phenomenon is gaining so much attention and it is also

for this reason that this proposed research needs to be done.

Performing this research would greatly benefit the political science field because we will

have an understanding of why these college students are joining terrorist groups. Once we gain

this understanding we will be able to implement policies tailored towards limiting the amount of

college students joining terrorist organizations. We will also be able to identify more accurately

which college students are more prone to engage in terrorist activities, which will lead to a

decrease in the joining of terrorist groups by college students. We used this same tactic when

lone wolf terrorist attacks began to become more common. Now, we have a profile of the

‘typical’ lone wolf terrorist and are able to create a watch list with the names of possible

terrorists. We can do this exact same thing when it comes to college students. Lone wolf

terrorists and these college students that are joining terrorist organizations are both just different

types of terrorists.

21

Terrorism is always expanding and new ways to commit terrorist acts are emerging.

College students joining terrorist organizations is the newest way terrorist groups are developing

more sophisticated terrorist tactics. Individuals within our Federal government and within the

Counter Terrorism Division of the FBI are working every day to put a stop to terrorism and they

cannot do it alone. They need the help of researchers whose studies can result in the reduction of

terrorism. As mentioned earlier, the profile of the lone wolf terrorist was not able to be created

without the help of research. The profile of college students joining terrorist organizations cannot

be created without the help of research either. The individuals within the political science field

will be able to work toward a solution regarding college students joining terrorist groups with the

help of this research and they will be able to continue to work towards a viable solution to

combat the war on terrorism.

Terrorism is not going to go away any time soon. The amount of terrorist acts committed

and groups formed is going to increase more than likely. Terrorist groups such as ISIS are able to

actively and successfully recruit teenagers and young adults from the United States and other

first world countries. This is a terrifying thought because it shows just what kind of range these

terrorist organizations have when it comes to recruiting new members. This is just the beginning

phase of an increase in significant terrorist attacks and we need to start our research now so we

do not fall behind the terrorists as we often do. This proposed research is the beginning,

regarding college students joining foreign terrorist organizations.

The results of this proposed research would be fascinating because there is no other

research regarding this very interesting phenomenon. In order to understand new occurrences

throughout the world we need to perform research and gather information from that research.

Information gathered from this research will provide a basis for other types of research on this

22

specific issue to follow. The results of this proposed research may indicate which college

students are more prone to join foreign terrorist organizations and what about these individuals

draws them towards a life of terrorism. This research will also be able to answer why these

college students are choosing this route instead of gaining employment in a job of their major

studies. These results will also provide a basis to create some solutions to combat this issue.

Counter Terrorism divisions within the federal government are always looking for new ways to

eliminate or even limit terrorist attacks around the world. The results of this proposed research

will do exactly that because we will have an understanding as to why these college students are

engaging in this type of activity and be able to potentially save someone’s life.

References

Copeland, L. (2004). Domestic Terrorism: New Trouble at Home; Chilling Plots Include Cyanide, Nerve Gas and Attempts to Acquire Nuclear Materials. USA TODAY 

DeAngelis, T. (2009). Understanding Terrorism. American Psychological Association, 40.10, 60. 

Enders, W., Sandler, T., & Gaibulloev, K. (2011). "Domestic versus Transnational Terrorism: Data, Decomposition, and Dynamics." Journal of Peace Research, 48.3, 319-37.

Krueger, A.B. (2008). What Makes a Homegrown Terrorist? Human Capital and Participation in Domestic Islamic Terrorist Groups in the U.S.A. Economics Letters, 101.3, 293-96.

Kurzman, C. (2012). Muslim-American Terrorism in the Decade Since 9/11. Triangle Center on Terrorism and Homeland Security, 1, 2-8. 

Pape, R.A. (2003). The Strategic Logic of Suicide Terrorism. American Political Science

Review, 97.03, 343-61. 

Strobel, M. (2015, March 15). College concerned 5 of its students joined ISIS. Retrieved April 17, 2015, from http://www.torontosun.com/2015/03/15/college-concerned-5-of-its-students-joined-isis.

U.S Department of State. (2009). Country Reports on Terrorism. United States Department of State Publication.

Victoroff, J. (2005). The Mind of the Terrorist: A Review and Critique of Psychological

Approaches. Journal of Conflict Resolution, 49.1, 3-42. Wright, M. (2011). Domestic Terrorism, Cyber-Radicalization, & U.S. COLLEGE STUDENTS.

Forensic Examiner, 20.3, 10-18.

Appendix A

This graphic was retrieved from the following website:

http://web.nrcs.k12.oh.us/wilcox/shaffer/regions/index.html

Appendix B

Research Proposal Survey

1. Do you agree with terrorist tactics? Circle one

Strongly Agree Agree Disagree Strongly Disagree

2. Do you know what the terrorist group ISIS is? Circle one

Yes No

3. Do you support what ISIS is doing? Circle one

Yes No

4. Do you agree with what ISIS is doing to achieve their goals? Circle one

Strongly Agree Agree Disagree Strongly Disagree

5. How much trust do you have in the Federal Government? Circle one

A lot Some Very Little None

6. Do you believe the government listens to its citizens and takes their opinion into consideration when it comes to creating new laws? Circle one

Yes No

7. What is your political affiliation? Circle one or Fill in the Blank

Republican Democrat Independent Other:

(please specify) _____________________________

8. What is your anticipated or current major? Fill in the blank

_________________________________________

9. Do you have a job? Circle one

Yes No

1

a. What is your job title? Fill in the blank

_______________________________________

b. How many hours per week do you work at your job? Circle one

0-9 10-19 20-29 30-39 40+

c. How much money do you make annually? Circle one

$0-14,999 $15,000-29,999 $30,000-49,999 $50,000+

10. Do you live on campus? Circle one

Yes No

a. If you answered no to question 10, who do you live with? Circle one

With parents With grandparents With friends Other:

(please specify) ________________________

11. If you answered yes to question 11, do you have any roommates? Circle one

Yes No

a. How many roommates do you have? Circle one

1 2 3 4 5+

12. What is your annual household income? Circle one

$0-19,999 $20,000-49,999 $50,000-69,999 $70,000+

13. How much money do you currently owe in student loans? Circle one

$0-4,999 $5,000-9,999 $10,000-14,999 $15,000+

14. What is your age? Circle one

Under 17 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26+

2

15. What is your sex? Circle one

Male Female