USU Prepares for Emergencies

from The Utah Statesman-August 27, 2008

In response to school shootings and other emergencies, USU has implemented a new program called Connect Ed, a mass notification system that sends out electronic emergency information to students, faculty and employees on campus who provide their contact information.
"Connect Ed allows us to send out messages over telephone, cell phone, text messaging, e-mail and TTY in a quick, efficient manner," said Steven Mecham, USU Police Chief and executive director for public safety.
Mecham said last year's tragedy at Virginia Tech really got the ball rolling.
"It changed the world of public safety on campuses," Mecham said. "We want to ensure that everyone on our campus is safe."
Freshmen who took connections, had the opportunity to fill out a form asking for home and cell phone numbers, emergency contact information and e-mail addresses.
Taylor Wells, freshman majoring in chemistry, filled out a Connect Ed form at Connections.
"I think this is a good program," Wells said. "If there is an emergency, then they can contact your family and get them updated as soon as possible."
Mecham said the feedback at Connections was positive.
"Students and parents mentioned they were happy that we were going to have this kind of system in place," he said.
For students who did not attend Connections, this program will soon be available through Access, Mecham said.
"We encourage everyone to get their information in and be a part of that," he said, "and by using Banner (Access), students and employees will be able to edit their information as is necessary."
During last year's ASUSU elections, Grady Brimley, ASUSU president, said he had spoken with students concerning this matter.
"Our campus is very similar to Virginia Tech," Brimley said. "Before Connect Ed we had no way of notifying students. We need a program like this at Utah State because of the recent phenomenon that we have seen in this country of active shooters."
Mecham said active shooting situations are not the only emergency that would warrant utilizing this system.
"There are several different scenarios I could think of that we would use this. If there is a major storm, or we are closing the campus as we did last year with the snow storm, we can get that information out to everyone. Some people weren't notified we had closed the campus and came anyway," he said.
Mecham said some students have expressed worries about giving out their private information.
"Some students have limited text messages and don't want to be receiving a lot of text messages. Your information is completely confidential. It's not going to be used for spam, it will only be for emergencies," he said.
Mecham said the one exception to this will be a test each semester to make sure that the system is working properly, and to ensure that students have the proper information submitted.
"It's a system we hope that we never have to use, but if there is a major incident, then we need to notify the masses as quickly as possible," he said.