Kaine to probe black college-terror claim

• Tweet

RICHMOND, Va., April 29 (UPI) -- The methodology of a police report claiming black colleges are potential breeding grounds for terrorism will be investigated, Virginia's governor says.

Gov. Timothy Kaine said Tuesday he found "misleading" conclusions in a leaked report by a unit of the Virginia State Police concluding that the state's college campuses are serving as "radicalization nodes" for extremism, singling out historically black colleges and the Christian school Regent University, The (Norfolk) Virginian-Pilot reported.

The 2009 Virginia Terrorism Threat Assessment, produced by the Virginia Fusion Center, "could be read to suggest a connection between terror or extremist groups and these universities," Kaine said in a statement. "This report is required by law and was illegally distributed to the public. However, I find the depictions in the report misleading and believe it improperly implicates these fine academic institutions."

Kaine added, "Virginia is especially proud to be home to a number of faith-based and historically black colleges and universities," saying that in the absence of any real evidence, "it is improper to single out these institutions for special mention."

The governor indicated has he has begun an investigation of the "methodologies and process" that led to the report, the Virginian-Pilot said.