UNL Alert’s effectiveness questioned after recent potential threats

When there is a threat, something goes wrong or the University of Nebraska-Lincoln community just needs to know something immediately, UNL Alert aims to spread the word as quickly and effectively as possible. But how does it work? And does it really work? In the wake of recent events such as the alleged East Campus gunman sighting on Feb. 24, the effectiveness of the system is being questioned.

UNL Alert does not automatically send alerts to everyone on campus. Only students, faculty and staff who have specifically registered for the alerts online receive updates.

On the UNL Alert website, students, faculty, staff and other community members, like parents of students, can log in and choose the methods by which they prefer to be alerted.

The options are alerts by text message, e-mail, pager and automated voice message to a cell phone or landline.

Individuals are able to choose as many or as few of the options as they want.

"Participation in UNL Alert is voluntary, but strongly encouraged," the website says. "In a life-threatening situation, everyone needs to have the ability to be warned."

Dave Fitzgibbon, a UNL spokesman, said it is a good idea to sign up for the alerts. UNL Alert should be utilized by students not just in cases of emergency, but also to find out about other important UNL notices like classes being canceled due to weather.

He said UNL Alert is opt-in only because many people do not want to get flooded with alerts.

"We want to have the flexibility to have the campus community decide their best method of communication," Fitzgibbon said.

He said it is very important to be signed up to receive alerts.

"They should do it today, because it's a very useful service," he said of students who have not yet signed up. Fitzgibbon said there is a calling tree in place that quickly notifies members of the administration in the event of an emergency.

Fitzgibbon said it is very difficult to establish defined criteria for deciding when it is necessary to send an alert.

Alerts have to be handled on a case-by-case basis, he said.

"The facts about any particular case can sway us one way or another," Fitzgibbon said.

Situations that may qualify as emergencies include severe weather, fires, bomb threats, civil disturbances and chemical spills and hazards, according to the website.

University Police make the decision to initiate the alert but declined to comment on the system.

Fitzgibbon said he thought, based on everything he saw and heard, that the system was effective during its use last Thursday.

"We haven't seen any reports that people were ill-informed or didn't know what was going on," he said.

Ashley Sears, a junior art major, disagreed. She is signed up for the alerts, but during the East Campus situation Thursday, did not receive one.

"I found out on Twitter and Facebook in class around 4 p.m. (that day)," she said. "I said something and one person in my class received a text out of the 20 of us."

She said she feels UNL Alert is a failed system.

"I understand it's set up on some sort of program, but I feel like maybe UNL Alert having a Twitter or something else would be more effective," Sears said.

University Communications does maintain a Twitter account, @UNLNews, run by UNL news manager Kelly Bartling. The Twitter account is separate from UNL Alert but was updated several times during the East Campus situation.

Sammy Nabulsi, a senior politic science major, said he thinks the problem with UNL Alert is that it ineffectively communicates the processes for signing up.

"Especially with returning students," he said. "There's not a lot of information."

Nabulsi said he was signed up for UNL Alert at one point, but somehow stopped receiving alerts.

He found out about the East Campus situation from friends.

"I think the service itself is really, really good as far as how many students it reaches and how (it reaches) them," he said. "Where they can improve a little is, you hear a little about UNL Alert at the beginning of the year, but not again."

UNL should be more consistent with communication, he said. Also, the timing of informing students about UNL Alert may hinder its effectiveness, he said.

"When they make it known to students, it's the beginning of the year when they have so much else going on," he said. "Many students simply forget."

He also said students need to be more actively informed on renewing the service every year and how to go about it.

Most universities and colleges around the country have alert systems, many similar to UNL's.

At Iowa State University, ISU Alert is responsible for keeping the university informed.

Annette Hacker, director of news service at ISU, said students, faculty and staff are automatically added to the alert system, but have the choice of opting out.

ISU alerts its community with automated voice messages, text messages and e-mails, according to the preference of individual users, she said.  

"Each person can tweak their ISU Alert preference," Hacker said.

She said the preferences can be accessed online on the same website students use to check grades and manage bills.

At ISU, there are a handful of people who are authorized to send the alert messages when ISU police decide it is necessary, Hacker said. She said this group includes students who are leaders of a critical incident response team.

"Police decide, ‘Does this emergency warrant an alert?'" she said.

Hacker said most people must physically opt out of the system if they do not want to be alerted and most do not opt out.

"Very few people do, because why wouldn't you want to be alerted?" she said.