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Safety & Security
Best Practices in Emergency Communications
5/9/2008
On April 16, 2007, a little more than a year ago a Virginia Tech student went on a rampage that killed 32 fellow students. And the carnage continued. On February 14, 2008, a Northern Illinois University student gunned down five other students before killing himself.Shortly after the Virginia Tech shootings I wrote in this column, "Even after this month's horrific events, our campuses are five times safer than the national average. Stated differently, even if an event like the one at Virginia Tech were to happen every year, a student is far more likely to be murdered while home on summer vacation than on campus during the academic year."
But risk assessment doesn't cut much weight in the world of public opinion. In the aftermath of highly publicized violent incidents like those at Virginia Tech and Northern Illinois University, higher education has come under increased scrutiny. In particular, students, their parents, and the general public want to know about the emergency notification procedures that campuses have deployed.
And emergency alerts are more than just good PR and doing the right thing. Under the Clery Act campuses are required to provide "timely warning" of various criminal threats. The emergencies faced by higher education, however, go far beyond those enumerated in the Clery Act and include severe weather, class cancellations owing to infrastructure failures, bomb threats, and hazardous material contamination incidents, as well as threats from deranged individuals.
What Can a Campus Do?
Supported by funding from the United States Department of Homeland Security and the Office of Domestic Preparedness to the State of Florida, the University of Central Florida prepared a report on Emergency Communications Systems that provides a comprehensive discussion of the requirements for emergency communications and available solutions. They identify the three requirements for an alert system as:
1. Alert as many people and as quickly as possible in a normal condition
2. Alert as many people and as quickly as possible without power and phone service
3. Constantly deliver alerts to specific groups of people in different locations
They also discuss why is difficult to design a single alert system that can respond to all hazards and all dynamic behaviors. For example, they note that campuses include a variety of facilities. Some do not have fire alarm intercom systems whereas others have rooms that do not have telephones. Human factors become important. The Florida study found that 50 percent of students and faculty would not immediately pick up a ringing phone and thus limiting the effectiveness of reverse 911 strategies. Similarly, while 95 percent of those surveyed prefer to be notified by mobile phones, cell phone are disruptive in classroom environments, and faculty frequently request that students turn them off.
Recommended Reading
- Georgia Tech Helps Develop Web-based Tool To Improve Blood Supply
The Georgia Tech College of Computing, working in partnership with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, has developed a Web-based tool for tracking blood safety. The program is expected to help developing countries improve the adequacy and safety of their national blood supplies through better monitoring and evaluation.
- Mississippi State Implements Reflex Virtual Management Center
Mississippi State University has implemented Reflex VMC (Virtual Management Center) from Reflex Systems. The application allows IT administrators to monitor a virtual infrastructure and enforce business and IT policies.
- Stanford Law School Launches IP Litigation Clearinghouse
The Law, Science & Technology Program at Stanford Law School has launched the Intellectual Property Litigation Clearinghouse (IPLC), an online database that offers comprehensive information about intellectual property (IP) disputes within the United States.
- Texas A&M Health Science Center Adopts Banner Administrative Management
The Texas A&M Health Science Center has selected the Banner Unified Digital Campus (UDC) from Sungard Higher Education to help unify its geographically-dispersed community and to enhance and expand services and communications to its growing student enrollment.
- NCCC: Data Cleansing Key To Managing Growth
Community colleges are in a good spot in some ways during the economic downturn, as tight family budgets drive up the appeal of the community college option. But along with the rest of higher education, most community colleges also face shrinking IT budgets and tighter resources. That makes it that much harder to handle the growing enrollment numbers that some community colleges are seeing.
- Finjan: Layoffs Could Drive IT People To Become Cyber-Criminals
Security vendor Finjan predicts that the current economic downturn could herald a sharp rise in cybercrime during 2009--driven by the rise in the number of IT people being laid off. According to a report from the company's Malicious Code Research Center (MCRC), more unemployed IT personnel will be tempted to seek "new and easy income by purchasing and using crimeware toolkits that are sold by professional hackers."
