[this is only a test]
VCU tests full emergency alert arsenal
RYAN BROSMER- News Editor
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VCU tested its $700,000 emergency alert system Wednesday.
The sirens atop James Branch Cabell Library on VCU's Monroe Park Campus and atop the Wood Memorial Building on the MCV Campus unleashed a twominute wail at noon.
The sirens rotated in place while smaller sirens blared across the campuses. The sirens were part of a package that includes e-mail notifications, text-message alerts and notices on liquid-crystal display screens throughout the university.
John Bennett, senior vice president for finance and administration, said the sirens come in last in the alert-system hierarchy, but the students and local reporters - who stopped students for impromptu interviews during the test - seemed focused solely on the siren.
"That's the one that people have focused on more than anything else," Bennett said. "But it's not the most likely one that we'd use, because that would be an all-hands emergency."
A major complaint following the initial Sept. 19 siren test last year was the tone used sounded too much like a fire truck, Bennett said. The siren that sounded Wednesday used a new tone, which was intended to differentiate it from the sound of a fire truck traveling through the city corridors.
"It sounds nothing like a fire truck," said freshman Carla Joseph. "It's way scarier."
What is the best means by which to communicate instructions?
"The problem with a siren is that it's a very dumb tool. All it does is get everybody's attention," Bennett said. "The primary channel that we identified was text messaging."
With students and faculty signed up to receive emergency text-message alerts, the university wouldn't have to depend on people checking their e-mail or the VCU Alert homepage. The textmessage service has been in use since May 2002.
The text message sent to subscribers' phones read, "THIS IS A TEST of the VCU emergency alert system. In a real emergency check www.vcu.edu/alert for details." A second message was sent out at the end of the test: "SIREN TEST ENDED. 'All Clear.' In a real emergency check www.vcu.edu/alert."
During the alert test Wednesday, some students received their text messages within a minute or two of the siren. Others received the message almost 30 minutes after the fact, never received a message at all or received the messages out of order.
"Honestly, I didn't even know what it was," said sophomore Jessie Hadley. "I don't check my e-mail, and I'm not signed up for the text-message alerts."
Hadley said she isn't signed up for the text-message service because she doesn't trust giving her cell-phone information to an outside telephone service.
Sophomore Susan McLeod was in front of Shafer Court Dining Hall when the siren went off.
"I feel like a lot of people didn't know what it was," McLeod said.
But, she said, the test worked. "I think it's helpful if people actually know what it is."
Joseph said she wasn't signed up for the text-message alert system because she had trouble with the registration.
"I signed up the first time, but it messed up," she said.
Bennett said the main problem the university is facing is getting people to sign up to receive the text-messaging alerts.
"We have 13,000 (subscribers). And that's way too low. And it's typical," Bennett said. "About 30 percent is normal, but it's not nearly enough."
Those 13,000 are spread out among the nearly 40,000 students, faculty and staff on both campuses. The text-message alert system was in place prior to the upgrades following the Virginia Tech incident.
Sophomore Adriel Hunter said he doesn't think text-message alerts will make a difference in the event of an emergency.
"I heard about it, but I never thought twice about signing up," he said. "By the time the incident happens, it may already be too late."
Bennett said he hopes students realize the text-message alerts are in place for more than a life-threatening emergency on campus. There are 22 pre-prepared messages ready to be sent out for a variety of emergencies or campus alerts, Bennett said. These messages were created for quick customization to lessen the lag time between recognizing an emergency and alerting students and faculty. The text-message service used by VCU is provided by the Virginia-based company e2Campus and has a limit of 125 characters per message.
"If time is of the essence, we can't sit around and count characters," Bennett said.
The service provided by e2Campus costs the university $1 per subscriber, per year.
Sophomore Steven Pyle Jr., a criminal justice major, sees no reason not to sign up for the text-message alerts. Pyle said he signed up following the Virginia Tech shootings.
"If something happens on campus, and they don't have the alert, you would never know. You would have no awareness whatsoever as to what is going on," he said.
Pyle said he transferred to VCU from a community college where emergency alerts like the text-message service weren't available. He said he's glad VCU takes emergency preparedness so seriously.
Chazity Jones, a freshman homeland security and emergency preparedness major, wasn't sure about whether to sign up for the text-message alerts at first. "But I didn't want to take the chance of something happening and (regret not signing up)," she said.
Jones said she doesn't think an incident like the Virginia Tech shootings could be prevented at VCU-even if every student was signed up for the text-message alerts.
"I feel more aware or somewhat prepared, but not safer," Jones said.
There has been no movement by the university to require students and faculty to sign up for text messages, because some people don't own cell phones and others have cell phones but no text-message service. Beginning with the incoming freshman class of fall 2008, Bennett said, signing up for the text-message service will be a part of receiving a VCU student identification card.
Another strategy to encourage enrollment in the text-message alerts will be incorporated into students' Blackboard service.
"When students use Blackboard or something else, (it) requires annual changes of their password," Bennett said. "We're going to put a screen up there that says 'sign up for text messaging before you get to change your password.' "
For both of these strategies, Bennett said, the university isn't able to force students to sign up, so there will be a choice to opt out.
Justin Davis contributed to this story.
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Major cost breakdown
Large sirens on top of Cabell and Woods Memorial: $90,000 each
Smaller sirens on campus perimeters: $12,000 to $15,000 depending on installation costs
LCD Displays (37 total): $6,000 to $7,000 each
e2Campus text message service: $1 per student, per year. Currently at 13,000 users.
The sirens will sound the first Monday of every month in a 15- second burst to test the sirens and as a means for re-charging their batteries.
To sign up for VCU textmessage alerts go to VCU.edu/alert/notify.
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