In the tragic aftermath of the Virginia Tech and Northern Illinois University shootings, many colleges have provided security systems to quickly warn students in case of an emergency.
UB implemented an emergency text messaging service last fall that has been ignored by the majority of students.
Students who sign up for the service will receive a text message on their phone during an emergency or school closing. However, in order for the service to be optimally effective, the majority of students must sign up. Though it could potentially save many lives, most UB students have not yet registered.
As of last Thursday only 7,605 students, faculty and staff have signed up for the emergency text messaging system, according to Environmental Health and Safety Services Emergency Planning Manager James Reger.
The need for a rapid alert system is perhaps best demonstrated by the events at Virginia Tech, where it was widely reported that the first official communication from the university was an E-mail sent over two hours after the initial 911 call.
If an emergency were to occur on campus, one of the fourteen administrators who have access to the service would send out the message to students, according to Reger. All lieutenants in the campus police, as well as several other high-ranking UB officials, are administrators for the system. There are approximately 15 pre-prepared messages that could be sent out to alert students as quickly as possible. The system would also automatically send an E-mail to all students who have registered phones.
"We're a little disappointed in the turnout," Reger said. "There's somewhere in the vicinity between...35,000 to 45,000 people on the three campuses."
The low numbers did not surprise University Police Chief Gerald Schoenle. Students need to remember that there are still other ways to communicate news in times of emergencies, he said.
"Unfortunately, this seems to be about an average percentage for universities," he said. "The text messaging system is only one method of notification."
There are several issues attributed to the low numbers, according to Reger. Student awareness and the inconvenience of signing up appear to be the leading factors.
"Maybe we're not doing a good enough job in advertising and letting people know it's out there," Reger said.
Students were initially informed of the optional system by E-mail from school administrators and through a bulletin post on MyUB.
"We're looking at some different options right now," Reger explained. "We're going to be set up at the wellness fair. We're looking at ways to present it at employee orientation. We're also looking at doing some sort of a postcard campaign."
Many students agreed that the reason they had failed to sign up was due to a lack of exposure.
"I had intended on it, I just forgot about it," said Jeff Matthews, a medicinal chemistry major.
Matthews suggested that the school place signs around campus advertising the service, such as on the UB shuttle busses that many students utilize every day.
Nicole Eberth, a sophomore psychology major, also hasn't heard much about the emergency text service. Though she visits the MyUB site every day, she believes that sending out more emails could be helpful.
"I only saw it once," she said. "I just haven't thought about it, really."
Another explanation for the minimal turnout rate may have to do with the actual process of signing up. Currently, students must navigate to the emergency preparedness Web site, verify their school E-mail address, and then wait for a confirmation E-mail. The students must then finish the process by returning to the Web site and filling out contact information.
"Everybody's in a mobile world," Reger said. "They want to do things fast. They have to take a little time to sign up."
The process isn't instantaneous, but it takes only several minutes if performed in one sitting. Many students who have signed up find the process to be uncomplicated.
"It's not hard to sign up or anything," said Brennan Reilly, a freshman undecided major. "I assumed most people signed up for it."
This unnerving trend is not unique to UB. Even at Virginia Tech, where 32 students were killed by a gunman last April, only four in 10 students have signed up for the alerts, according to the Associated Press.
"I would think that everyone would want to sign up for it," said Adam Blair, a sophomore environmental design major. "I was pretty freaked out about both of the shootings."
Some schools have gone as far as making signing up for an emergency text service mandatory. Boston University mandates that all students sign up for its service, "Send Word Now," according to WCVB-TV in Boston.
This raises a slew of new questions such as what students without cell phones should do, and if the school should reimburse students for the messages that are sent out.
Another possible solution to increasing the sign-up rate could come from new students, who are generally more inclined to sign up for things as they prepare for a first semester at the university. Emergency preparedness is currently working with Student Affairs in an attempt to inform students at freshman orientation.
"A new student coming on campus is so overwhelmed with everything that is going on anyways," Reger said. "It's kind of the farthest thing in their mind."
There may be another way to get students more interested in the service has nothing to do with emergencies. According RAVE Wireless, the company that UB has contracted to provide the service, the text messaging system can also be used to send out school sports scores and schedules.
"In the immediate future, there are no plans on using it for anything but emergency alerts," Reger said. "But there is discussion of how we could use it for other things. The beauty of the system is you have to opt in at all times. If you didn't want to get [sports information] you could opt out of it."
All students, faculty, and staff can register at http://emergency.buffalo.edu/ with a valid UB E-mail address.
The program works with all major cell phone service providers, according to the RAVE Wireless Web site. The only fees associated with the program are the usual cost per text message, which varies between carriers.
"We strongly encourage all students, faculty, and staff to sign up for this text messaging service," Schoenle said. "We all have some responsibility in our personal safety."
Photo: Courtesy of Laron Fomby
