Communication and Emergency Notification Systems

This group focuses on strategic issues and tactical challenges that affect IT communications in planning for, during mitigation of, and following an emergency in higher education. Discussion topics include telecommunication infrastructure and electronic services, campus coordination, the role of IT staff, campus drills, funding, security and safety, community awareness, vendors, and information and network policies. The group examines policies, best practices, and lessons learned.

This presentation will explore the challenges that UNC–Wilmington encountered in providing for the broadcast and communication of emergency notification alerts to the at-large campus community. Since the methods of delivery can be diverse (siren, cable broadcast, internet, e-messaging), collaboration across departments was necessary to create this well-rounded solution.

Liberally paraphrasing the great American war general Dwight Eisenhower, in war, planning is everything; in battle, plans go out the window. Effective crisis communications demand significant planning. Once youre in a crisis event, instinctive reaction and reliance on experience take over. Come to this session to understand Virginia Techs crisis communications response to a tragedy for which no one can prepare.

Colleges and universities around the country, ever more mindful of campus safety, are installing outdoor sirens. The systems can blast spoken messages or tone alerts of danger—and one of the preset messages on many of the public-address systems warns: "There is a shooter on campus. Seek shelter immediately."

The rush to use text messaging as an emergency notification system fails to consider the weaknesses and potential hazards of this solution.

Saint Peter’s College responded to a bomb threat and evacuated the campus safely and efficiently thanks to close integration of human systems with IT.

This July 2008 survey is a critical component of the EDUCAUSE Center on Applied Research (ECAR) study of messaging and communication in higher education. It seeks to understand the provision, policies, use, and emerging trends related to telephony, mobile communications, e-mail and calendaring, and emergency notification systems in colleges and universities.

Citation for this work: EDUCAUSE Center for Applied Research. "Messaging and Communication Survey" (Survey Instrument). Boulder, CO: ECAR, 2008, available from http://www.educause.edu/ecar.

(Wally) Czerniak was attending a conference in Arizona where he was learning, among other things, about emergency-notification systems that can send text messages to cellphones - a method that a growing number of colleges have set up since the shootings last spring at Virginia Tech. But Mr. Czerniak still isn't sure whether such a system would have done much good in keeping people on campus updated as the crisis unfolded if it had been in place at Northern Illinois.

The Governor's Task Force on Campus Safety is focused on ensuring the safety of college campuses across Wisconsin. At the direction of Governor Jim Doyle, the Task Force is reviewing and compiling criteria for developing best practices from universities, colleges, and other higher education institutions in Wisconsin and across the nation. This information will be submitted to the governor and will serve as a resource for college administrators, law enforcement officers, and emergency preparedness officials.

This meeting will devote several hours to presentations and discussions regarding emergency notification systems on campus. This will include a panel of speakers from various campuses who are actively working on this issue, including Virginia Tech, and presentations by a select group of vendors. Also planned for the agenda is an update on municipal networks, 4G Wi Max and 911 capabilities on campus.