Killing of Levi Butler at Maharishi University of Management

On March 1, 2004, Shuvender Sem, who had been enrolled at Maharishi University of Management (later renamed Maharishi International University) in Fairfield, Iowa, for less than two months, stabbed a fellow student in the face with a pen during a class called "Teaching for Enlightenment." The injured student was told by university staff that he did not need medical attention and drove himself to a hospital, where he received seven stitches. University officials consulted a psychologist and decided Sem would have to leave the university but did not report the incident to police. Because Sem did not appear dangerous or agitated, Joel Wysong, the school's dean of men, took him to Wysong's on-campus apartment to wait for a flight home the next morning, then left him unattended.

While alone, Sem took a paring knife from Wysong's kitchen and went to the university's dining hall. Wysong followed him there and observed him interacting with other students for about ten minutes but did not take him back into custody. Without provocation, Sem then stabbed freshman Levi Butler four times in the chest, killing him.

Sem was reported to be a diagnosed schizophrenic who had been off his medication for months at the time of the killing. He was initially declared incompetent to stand trial but was later found competent. A judge ruled Sem not guilty by reason of insanity, a result urged by both defense attorneys and prosecutors. A Des Moines-area psychiatrist, Michael Taylor, who testified for the defense, later said in a 2010 Des Moines Register article that the insanity defense was appropriate. On March 29, 2010, a district judge in Jefferson County, Iowa, permitted Sem to leave a psychiatric hospital in Independence, Iowa, and return to his family's home in Pennsylvania; Taylor recommended Sem live with his parents while resuming college, stating his schizophrenia was controlled by medication.

The case drew broader attention because the university emphasized crime reduction through Transcendental Meditation and the TM-Sidhi program, including "yogic flying," which proponents said reduced violence. University officials said this was the first such incident on their campus and denied any obligation to bring criminal charges against students. The Maharishi was quoted as calling the incident "an aspect of the violence we see throughout society." Critics alleged, without providing evidence, that other incidents had been concealed; the university's legal counsel denied that image concerns affected incident reporting. The case also prompted questions about recommending meditation to people with underlying psychiatric conditions, including reports from a former professor about another student with schizophrenia who had a breakdown after being advised to stop medication in favor of meditation.

On February 24, 2006, the injured student and Butler's estate sued the university and the Maharishi Vedic Education Development Corporation in federal court, alleging gross negligence for ignoring warnings about Sem, failing to report the first attack to police, failing to provide medical attention, and failing to control the scene. The suit against the education corporation was dismissed; the suits against the university were settled out of court in 2009. A separate wrongful-death suit was filed by Butler's parents in state court.