This winter, leaving your cell phone on in class may be the responsible thing to do.
Fall term marks the first opportunity for students, faculty and staff to provide their cell phone numbers for the University’s technologically savvy text message emergency-alert system, UO Alert. The system will go live during winter term.
Students can voluntarily participate in the emergency notification system – which sends text messages via cell phone to alert students, faculty and staff about emergency situations and campus closures – by signing into DuckWeb and clicking the “Personal Information” option.
The system operates on an online platform with its vendor, Intrado, based in Colorado, enabling it to deliver messages to the University community even if campus electricity is out, said Krista Dillon, University emergency planner and response coordinator.
Rather than using the vendor that hosts the text alerts on other Oregon campuses, the University chose Intrado because it is already being used by Eugene and Lane County emergency response units, Dillon said.
By using the same vendor as local emergency units, the messages create shared knowledge in the community about emergency situations, and enable non-University officials who are not at the University to send out an emergency text.
“It broadens the pool of who can actually push the button,” Dillon said.
The program comes with a $25,600 annual price tag. But in comparison with other
emergency alert programs, the text message system is inexpensive, ASUO President Sam Dotters-Katz said.
“It is the most equitable system of emergency responses we could find,” Dotters-Katz said. “It is cheap, sustainable and privacy-protected.”
Because the majority of students have cell phones, Dillon said she hopes the system will enable emergency messages to reach a greater number of students than other alert methods, such as e-mail or posting the alert on the University’s main Web site.
“Almost everyone has their cell phone in their pocket or bag,” Dillon said. “It is an efficient way to get emergency messages out quickly,” said Dotters-Katz, who pushed for the implementation of the alert program. He said another benefit of the program is that students who receive an emergency message can announce the news to their class or to the people around them.
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