In “Mining Student Data Could Save Lives”, Morris argues that mining data is basically a crystal ball into the future. Data mining will give the ability to notice and prevent potential threats to the campus and community around it. The example Morris uses is a school shooter. If a university can use data mining to monitor students’ online behavior, then they can look for warning signs that people may display before they do something harmful to themselves and or others.

One study shows that between the years 2013 and 2015 there were 160 school shootings, with 47 percent of those taking place in a college or university (Everytown Research). Many of these could have been stopped with some preemptive data mining. Yes, it is true that every student has a right to privacy and their rights should be respected. However, the overall safety of the student body is much more important than the possibility of someone seeing your recent search history. Realistically, data mining will be much more helpful than hurtful. A school shooting is not likely to happen in your school. But what if it did? If data mining is allowed, then the likely hood of a shooting happening diminishes even more. The safety of students is a top priority among all universities. The use of data mining would not be a tool to invade a student’s privacy, but rather a weapon to counteract horrendous acts.

https://everytownresearch.org/reports/analysis-of-school-shootings/