Last winter, after fighting a storm to get to class, I sat in an empty classroom for 15 minutes until I figured out no one was coming. I went to a friend’s house and checked my e-mail. Classes had been canceled because of the snow. If I had known that, I could have slept in or avoided the possibility of being in a terrible accident.
Before now, the U had a system where they would e-mail students and faculty with these types of emergencies. E-mail is ineffective because not everyone has a computer with them all the time. If the school had been able to send me a text message, the whole situation could have been avoided.
The U now has the first system in the state where students can choose how they want to be contacted in the case of an emergency. By signing in on the Campus Information System you can set your preferences.
We all hope that a tragedy like what happened at Virginia Tech never happens at the U. But in reality, it very well could. Being able to inform students of possible danger is more important than snow closures. This new system is definitely an improvement.
Text messaging is one of the most popular modes of communication for college students. The age group sending the most text messages is 17 to 25. According to the Mobile Marketing Association and the Pew Internet and American Life Project Surveys, 80 percent of 13- to 24-year-olds text.
However, according to the Campus Help Desk, the rate at which students are signing up for the Campus Alert System is slow. It is a new system and the majority of students take weeks, sometimes months, to get in on new projects like this one.
Students often take the attitude of “it won’t happen to me.” No one thinks a tragedy can happen to them until it does. Students need to realize that we aren’t immune to emergencies. The U plans to use the system to inform students of snow closures, building closures, gas leaks, power outages, threats and gunmen. These are important situations that students need to know about.
The U has assured the privacy of the information gathered. As a student I understand it can be inconvenient or just not part of your Internet routine, but the U has taken efforts to be able to communicate with us in the way we prefer. We need to support these efforts. More than that, students ought to care about their own safety enough to take five minutes to add their phone numbers to the Campus Alert system.
The U has launched a campaign to inform students of the new options but the campaign still hasn’t reached all the students. Students should support the campaign by signing up for the system.
Kevin Merriman
Gina Lea Nickl