Bill sets time limit for alert system
April 15, 2008
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Within a week of the one-year anniversary of the shootings at Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University, U.S. Rep. Carolyn McCarthy proposed a bill to place a time limit on when to activate campus emergency alert systems.
McCarthy, D-N.Y., introduced the Virginia Tech Victims Campus Emergency Response Policy and Notification Act to the U.S. House of Representatives on Wednesday. The bill would amend the Higher Education Act of 1965, which requires institutions of higher education to disclose their emergency response and evacuation procedures.
In response to the two-hour delay in alerting faculty, staff and students at Virginia Tech, McCarthy’s bill provides solutions for avoiding or controlling further disasters, McCarthy’s spokesman Raymond Zaccaro said.
The Virginia Tech Victims Act will require higher education institutions to begin alert procedures for students and employees within 30 minutes of a confirmed emergency. In addition, institutions must make emergency responses and evacuation procedures available for students and staff and test procedures every year.
The UM system emergency alert system - which uses telephone calls, e-mails and text messages to alert students of an emergency — has the capacity to comply with all aspects of the bill.
“Regardless of the direction of the bill, the university is committed to the safety and welfare of the students and staff,” UM system spokeswoman Jennifer Hollingshead said. “The process we’re going through with our notification system at the university is just an indicator of that commitment.”
The UM system’s mass e-mail alert system has been available for more than 10 years, but in August of last year, the system signed a contract with National Notification Network, a provider of mass notification services that is currently employed by Virginia Tech.
The system, put into effect at the end of November last year, allows those registered as group leaders in the university system to activate an alert any time by phone or computer in less than five minutes. This includes MU Police Chief Jack Watring and several trained staff members.
“The capability is there, ready to be used at any second,” Information Technology Director Terry Robb said. “But obviously police have to evaluate what’s the best method to use before they just automatically send something.”
The alert system works in phases, first calling every cellular phone registered in the MU system. Once a student or faculty member receives that notification, that individual must confirm they received the call by dialing a number on the keypad. If not confirmed after the call, a text message will be sent to every registered individual. The confirmation works in the same way, and if not confirmed, an e-mail will be sent to individuals who did not confirm the first two notifications. When all confirmations have been received, the alert procedure is complete.
Although Missouri’s alert system can be activated quickly, due to the sheer size of the university, there is a two to four hour window until all alert procedures have been successfully completed.
The bill doesn’t require universities to notify everyone registered within the 30-minute window, only to activate the notification center.
“What the bill calls for is not to jump the gun on confirming an incident,” Zaccaro said. “However, once they know that there’s an emergency, they have the responsibility to get that information out within 30 minutes.”
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