As part of the process to make campus safer, steps are being taken to implement a campus wide mass communication system to be used in the case of emergencies.

In the case of an emergency on campus, such as a tornado touching down, the system will send a prerecorded message to a university database, which will then send a warning message to people listed via phone calls, text messages and e-mails. People using the service can submit up to six different numbers and e-mail addresses to the service.

Warren Madden, vice president for business and finance, said that, once up and running, the service would cost the university about $60,000 a year, with fees for the service being between $1 or $2 per person.

“For the university, this really isn’t that big of a hit into the budget,” he said. There is a bit of a technical issue in managing a database this big.

“Assuming the majority of students and faculty sign up, that’s about 30,000 phone numbers, which is a challenge. We’re working to make sure this software can integrate with that of the major cell phone service providers, because if 30,000 calls go out at the same time, that might overload a few cell towers,” Madden said.

The big question is exactly when the service will be established, and that depends on how much prior information gathering the university decides to do.

“We are hoping to have the system up by the end of this fall,” Madden said.

“The NTI Group told us that once we give them the OK, they can have the system up within one day,” Bradley said. “We’re just deciding right now how to go through the data gathering stage, and how we want to spread information of this to the students.”

President Gregory Geoffroy said once the system is put in place, it would be desired to not have to use it.

“But we should be prepared for any emergency, not just situations like Virginia Tech, and there are different applications for this system,” Geoffroy said.

The university has been in discussion with several companies that provide this type of service, and has decided to work with The NTI Group Inc., an organization that provides this service to many schools across the country.

“We decided to work with The NTI Group because currently, the University of Iowa is in the middle of a trial phase with them, and we’ve heard good things from them about the way the system works,” said Angela Bradley, director of IT Services.

The NTI Group provides database software that the university will manage. This will store contact information for all the students and faculty who submit their phone numbers and e-mail addresses and use the service. Students fearful that their contact info could be mismanaged can rest easy, Madden said.

“This will be a confidential database used only for this service, and will not be a part of our public info database. Submitting your information will be voluntary, so there’s nothing to worry about,” he said.