UNC Reviewing Emergency Alert System After Failure
The University of North Carolina’s ‘Alert Carolina’ mass notification system failed during an incident July 22.
The University is still investigating the two armed robberies that took place on campus July 22.
Officials at the University of North Carolina are trying to determine what went wrong after their emergency notification system took far longer than expected to alert students of a threat on campus.
The problems with the system were discovered after two armed robberies the night of July 22 forced administrators to sound a campus alarm that alerts students to stay inside campus buildings. The alarm is supposed to be accompanied by emails, text messages and social media postings informing students of the situation, but those messages didn’t come until 40 minutes after the initial alarm, according to Greensboro.com.
Now a review has been ordered to find out what was responsible for what Chancellor Carol Folt called a “completely unacceptable” mishap.
Officials determined the campus was safe around midnight on July 22 and were able to reach students for that message, but Chancellor Folt was still concerned.
The university uses a system called Alert Carolina, and some students expressed dissatisfaction with the system’s performance over the last five years.
The school’s other emergency procedures, such as the campus lockdown, went according to plan.
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