Rusty Bruns demonstrated Charleston Southern University’s new rapid emergency notification system. He simply sent a text message to himself and typed it. Within 45 seconds, both his office and cell phones rang. Bruns, Charleston-South Carolina’s chief information officer could hear the voice message on both his cell phone and office phone.
If an actual emergency happens on the campus, he stated that he could send a message in minutes to all 3,500 students and faculty members. Emergency notices can be sent to any number within the system, including a pager number or e-mail address. They can also be sent by text message to each person.
Bruns explained that university officials decided that a more extensive notification system was needed to reach students in an emergency. This was after the Virginia Tech shootings. Bruns was also reminded of the need in February when there was a shooting on the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign. TechRadium’s Immediate Response Information System was created to address this need.
“The goal is for us to reach kids anytime we want, anywhere,”Bruns said. “They, like many school communities, had previously relied primarily on posting updates on the university’s Web site.”
“Many schools chose IRIS because, in addition to sending emergency notifications, it also prints out a report that verifies that the message got to the intended recipient,”Bruns said. “It’s not only for safety reasons but because it can protect universities from lawsuits from people who claim they weren’t notified.”
Julia Grinn, a senior in Rochester, Ind., added her cell phone number, as well as those of her husband and mother, to the system.
If there is something very dangerous happening on campus “our families will know immediately, and that brings a lot of comfort to students and their parents,”She spoke.
She asked that IRIS send her a message by text. Grinn suggested that the best way to get in touch with most students is via text message.
She anticipates that it will be used primarily to notify students about natural catastrophes such as tornado and hurricane warnings. The new system is appreciated by parents more than the students.
