For those of us who work full-time on campus, there’s a nice rhythm to the year, with the ebb and flow of people and activity. Right now, we’re enjoying having students back in the library – and lots of them, too, for this early in the semester. (I suspect it’s a bit like the rush of gym memberships in January – all good intentions early on…)
As I’ve sat through orientations over the past month, I’ve heard the University’s Police Department give their introduction, and they always stress the importance of signing up for UR Alerts. This is the system in which a voice call, text message, or email will be sent to you (at the point of contact you designate in BannerWeb) in the event of a campus emergency. Here in Virginia, in particular, the shooting at Tech reminded us that anything can happen, even on a idyllic campus such as ours, but the system can only work if you “opt in”. This FAQ page answers many of the questions you might have about this alert system.
The Federal Government realizes that this aspect campus security is vital to the national interest. This year’s latest amendment to the Higher Education Act of 1965 requires that schools maintain:
‘‘A statement of current campus policies regarding immediate emergency response and evacuation procedures,
including the use of electronic and cellular communication (if appropriate), which policies shall include procedures to—‘‘(i) immediately notify the campus community upon the confirmation of a significant emergency or dangerous situation involving an immediate threat to the health or safety of students or staff occurring on the campus, as defined in paragraph (6), unless issuing notification will compromise efforts to contain the emergency;
‘‘(ii) publicize emergency response and evacuation procedures on an annual basis in a manner designed to reach students and staff; and
‘‘(iii) test emergency response and evacuation procedures on an annual basis.’’
Finally, if you’re on campus the first Monday of each month at 1:25PM, you will hear a “groaning noise [which] amplifes until it reaches full volume”; that’s the test for the Tornado Warning System. If you hear this at any other time, you should immediately seek shelter.