[this is only a test]

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.

—

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.