LOS ANGELES
Many colleges and universities recognize that instant, multi-modal communication to students and faculty during an emergency situation will keep their campus community as safe as possible. However, few emergency management personnel know how to deploy a multi-modal notification system in the most effective way.
New emergency alert systems offer a wide variety of possibilities, but remember, it’s the policies that must be developed before, during and after the purchase that will determine the success or failure of the system.
Longwood University, located in Farmville, Va. was founded in 1839. Nearly 5,000 students are enrolled at the university with 70 percent of undergraduates living on campus. With more than 800 full-time and part-time faculty and staff, the university has 50 buildings on the 60-acre campus and 32 buildings off campus.
Here’s how campuses can start to tackle some of the shortcomings associated with text messaging disaster notification solutions.
A large group of campus emergency managers from around the nation have developed the following prototype mass notification text messages. The samples listed below are used by UCLA.
Read Campus Safety magazine's April 2008 Mass Notification Study to find out what percentage of students are signing up to receive e-mail and text-message alerts.
Florida State University (FSU) uses the opt-out approach to sign up students for its emergency alert text messaging programand has an 85 percent participation rate.