Two Washington-area universities are hurrying to implement emergency communication systems by fall in response to safety concerns after the Virginia
Tech shootings, school officials said.
An emergency communication system allows a university or government official to instantly send an alert to students, parents, faculty and staff by e-mail or text message.
Georgetown University will have a system in place by the fall, and Marymount University hopes to have a system by the time classes start. George Washington University and American University use the local government system called Alert DC.
The University of Maryland, College Park began using a service at the end of April, shortly after Seung-Hui Cho shot and killed 32 students and teachers at Virginia Tech, said Jay Gruber, the commander of technological services there.
Although the school had been looking into emergency message systems for a while, the Virginia Tech shooting “was a watershed event, and we decided to go ahead and implement it,” Gruber said. “This is currently the best way to get information,” he added. “Everybody has access to their cell phone.”
The problem with text-messaging systems is that people have to sign up for them, said Tracy Schario, a spokeswoman from George Washington University.
The school has used the D.C. system for a year, but only 5,000 people have signed up, she said. There are about 20,000 students at the university.
Wireless networks can carry more text messages than phone calls, so messages are far preferable in an emergency, AT&T spokesman Warner May said in an e-mail.
