Thursday, May 10, 2007
The University of Kansas will be utilizing a new text messaging alert system to quickly inform students of dangerous situations. The system is a response to the lack of communication the morning of the Virginia Tech shooting in April.
Beginning today, students should receive e-mails directing them to a Web site where they can update their emergency contact information and submit their cell phone number and service provider to the University. The site can also be reached from the main University Web site by clicking on the emergency contact link.
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What we need to do is discuss with students what they want to be notified about.
- Dr. Marlesa Roney, Vice Provost of Student Success
The information gathered will be as secure as student database information and will not be given out to advertisers, said Todd Cohen, Director of University Relations.
“The Virginia Tech massacre brought to light the need to have an amber alert system,” Cohen said. “This system will work with all cell phone providers.”
Dr. Marlesa Roney, Vice Provost of Student Success, said that the system will definitely be used in situations of imminent danger, but she did not know if it would be used for non-threatening situations like snow days.
“What we need to do is discuss with students what they want to be notified about,” Roney said. She estimated students could sign up for the service in two to three minutes.
David Mucci, Director of KU Memorial Unions, said that other methods of communication were still being discussed.
“Text messaging is a system that I think makes a lot of sense in terms of students,” Mucci said. “But I don’t think there is any one answer. It might serve a lot of people but it might still miss numbers of people.”
Other methods for contacting students in an emergency could range from e-mail to P.A. systems to patrol cars driving down Jayhawk Boulevard with megaphones.
The text messaging service was partly born out of a deal to sell Sprint cell phones at KU Bookstores.
“After the microburst, we were thinking about how we could apply this deal into a text messaging service to inform students about things going on,” said Tim Norris, Director of KU Bookstores.
With the University now selling cell phones and familiarizing itself with the technology, it was a natural step to create an emergency text messaging system.
“It’s like thinking about buying flood insurance and then having some really heavy rain,” Roney said.
Kansan staff writer Joe Hunt can be contacted at jhunt@kansan.com.
— Edited by Lisa Tilson
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