Iowa State University is in the final stages of setting up and completing the campuswide Emergency Notification System, ISU Alert. The system will be used to alert students, faculty and university staff in the event of an emergency that threatens people on campus. The system will be used in events such as severe weather, various violent threats, hazardous material incidents and other immediate dangers via text messaging, voice message and e-mail.

At an annual cost of $40,000, Iowa State will pay Connect-ED, a subsidiary of The NTI Group, for the emergency notification services. The university will fund the ISU Alert system – the only charges students, faculty and staff might incur are charges from their cell phone companies for receiving text messaging or voice mail.

The new system will work to prevent events such as the Virginia Tech University massacre last year. Warren Madden, vice president of business and finance, said Virginia Tech released several documents filled with recommendations on how such events could be prevented.

“We have gone through all the records and recommendations and are implementing those that most meet the needs of the university,” Madden said. “Our biggest question right now is what proximity to the university we are going to use. That is what we are trying to define.”

Madden explained that if, for example, a bank was robbed in downtown Ames, no alert would be warranted. However, if the bank robber was seen on campus and was a threat to people at the university, an alert via the ISU Alert system would be warranted.

“The system is in place and is operational,” said Angela Bradley, director of IT services networks and communications. “So if we needed to alert students and staff today, we could.”

Bradley also said if a phone has caller identification capabilities, the return number would be (515)294-5000. That number, if called, would provide more information about the alert via a continuous computer-generated loop.

Madden said there would also be more information provided about the alert on the ISU Web site.

The Department of Public Safety will be issuing the alerts. ISU Police Cmdr. Gene Deisinger said anyone can contact them about dangerous activity and possible activity that may warrant an alert.

Students, faculty and staff should be sure their information is correct for the ISU Alert system through their AccessPlus account. Once in AccessPlus, the ISU Alert link is on the main page along the left side.

“Students need to put in the phone numbers where they’re at any time of the day or night,” said Diana Pounds, associate director of university relations. “Students can sign up to receive all three forms of the alert or just one.”

If an alert is issued, it could take up to 30 minutes for the entire database of numbers to be contacted because there are approximately 30,000 people in the system.

Madden confirmed that the system will be tested in the first few weeks of the spring semester and that it would strictly be a test of the system. In the event of an actual emergency, students and staff will be directed to the safest plan of action by the message.

Madden, Bradley and Pounds want to assure students and staff the phone numbers given for the alert system will only be used for that purpose. The numbers will be stored in a secure database and will only be used in the event of an alert being issued by the university.

Bradley addressed the possibility of the system being able to alert select students or specific areas of the university, saying the system is capable of reaching the entire area and is being continuously worked on. However, these modifications won’t be added immediately.

“As for right now, we just are working on getting the main alert system working efficiently,” Bradley said.