California State University East Bay

The Pioneer

California State University East Bay

The Pioneer

California State University East Bay

The Pioneer

Turf
Filler ad

AlertMe the CSUEB Emergency Alert System Is Seeing Big Improvements

At 6:45 a.m., a mother of two elementary kids at a San Francisco middle school received a text message that read, “A suspicious backpack has been located in front of the school entrance, we are advising parents to stay home with their children until further notice.”

Turns out, the backpack was the result of a careless fifth grader who ran off to play basketball at a nearby park.   Had the backpack actually been a bomb, many lives would have been saved, thanks to an alert system that informed the school community to stay out of harm’s way.

Increasingly, cell phones and PDAs are not only a convenient way to keep in touch with people; they are essentially a vital form of communication.

Schools across the nation, private and public, are subscribing to some form of text message alert system to relay or notify people of impending threats.  At CSU East Bay, the system is called AlertMe.

“When you sign up for classes at freshman orientation they make you sign up for AlertMe,” said Katie Devine, a graduating senior.

However, some students and newer faculty members said they had little or no knowledge that such a system exists.

Newly appointed University Police Chief Sheryl Boykins reiterated the importance of utilizing an alert system.   At her prior position for the Hayward Police Department, they used Nixle, which relays Amber Alerts, emergencies or any other safety breach to the community.

“I don’t know about the alert system here, but that does not mean we do not have one,” said Boykins on her third day of employment as UPD chief.  “If we have a system here, I need to find out how it works and implement it.”

Until recently, the CSUEB AlertMe system was initially considered an “opt-in” service, meaning students, faculty and staff needed to go to a “sign –in” page and voluntarily fill out their information.

In a campus wide announcement in 2009, CSUEB ex-President Mohammad Qayoumi unveiled the system stating, “While it is not required that you provide your contact information to the secure AlertMe system, for safety reasons I encourage all members of the campus community to participate.”

The problem with a voluntary alert system is that there is minimal participation and issues with outdated contact information.  In a time when natural disasters, school shootings and public acts of violence are prevalent, the need for everyone on campus to stay informed, should be mandatory.

In April, CSUEB Administrators along with Commander Hodges, successfully converted AlertMe into an automatic registration.  Instead of logging onto a designated website to register or update information, the registration is now automatic for everyone. To review and keep contact information updated, campus citizen can log in to MyCSUEB.

According to James Hodges the emergency operations commander for CSUEB, enhancements to upgrade AlertMe have been in the works for some time.   In the beginning of this year, Hodges told The Pioneer that they were working on linking AlertMe to relevant social media sites.

Today, AlertMe status updates and alert notifications will appear on Facebook and Twitter.

To ensure the reliability and effectiveness of the system, the university conducted a campus wide test of AlertMe. On May 30th both students and staff received alerts via text, phones, voicemail and email informing them that a test of the AlertMe system was being conducted.

“I get all three, I get a text, an email and a phone call,” said Communication Professor Kevin Pina.

Besides using AlertMe, the CSUEB Emergency Operations Plan proposes an alternative option, to communicate or relay alerts during a crisis.  Interruptions in cell phone reception or wireless connection in the event of an emergency would paralyze the AlertMe system.

According to Commander Hodges, they are currently working on enhancements to consider the connection issues as well as electrical and technical malfunctions that may occur on campus.

As of now, AlertMe back up options are to use Facebook or Twitter, send campus wide emails, sound the outdoor alarm warning system and utilize police patrol vehicle loudspeakers.

More to Discover
Activate Search
California State University East Bay
AlertMe the CSUEB Emergency Alert System Is Seeing Big Improvements