Public Safety announces a new emergency alert system on campus
By Jonathan Hiser
This spring semester, keeping your cell phone on in class could be the smart thing to do.
Late February will mark the first opportunity for students, staff and faculty to provide their cell phone numbers and e-mail addresses for the University of Portland's emergency-alert system, UP Alert.
Students will have the option to participate in the emergency notification system by signing into their UP Pilots account and clicking the signup option. The service sends a text, voicemail and e-mail message to alert students, faculty and staff about emergency situations and campus closures.
Director of Public Safety, Harold Burke-Sivers, said that during a crisis it is important to have a multi-dimensional approach to reaching people either on or off campus with important information, not only by using text messaging, but also e-mail.
The system operates on an online platform, enabling it to deliver messages to the university community even if campus electricity is out, Burke-Sivers said.
The plan for such an alert system was in place before the shooting at Virginia Tech, Burke-Sivers said, but he added that the incident accelerated its implementation. The breakthrough in implementing the system came when UP scored a "great" deal with a reputable vendor. The current system, in comparison with other emergency alert programs, is inexpensive.
"We would've had to been stupid to not jump at the deal we got," Burke-Sivers said.
Burke-Sivers said he hopes the system will enable emergency messages to reach a greater number of students than other alert methods, such as posting the alert on the University's main Web site.
He said another benefit of the program is that students who receive an emergency message can announce the news to their class or to the people around them. Despite this advantage, the system does not replace the need to properly train professors on what to do when they receive alert messages.
Burke-Sivers said a major concern with the system has been the inherent disruption it may cause in class.
"We're aware that leaving your cell phone on in class can mean students will get other messages," Burke-Sivers said. "We just hope students remember to turn their phones to vibrate."
Federal regulations require that campus text alert systems be tested at least once a year, but Burke-Sivers said he hopes to test them once a semester. The reason lies in UP's influx of transfer students that come in during spring semester; the test would ensure that new students would not inadvertently slip through the system.
The first test of UP Alert system, completed on Jan. 30, was intended only to check the infrastructure of the system. Burke-Sivers said the test was a complete success, and that the next step will be to expand the test to the student body.
"We want enough students that it will really push the system," Burke-Sivers said. "We want to make sure it will work right off the bat."
