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Earlham’s First Test of Campus Emergency Notification Successful For Immediate Release: 
The first test of Earlham's emergency notification system was a success, according to Provost Nelson Bingham. RICHMOND, Ind. — Earlham College has completed the first successful test of its emergency notification system, designed to alert students, faculty and staff members of potentially hazardous events using multiple communication channels. The College has selected the Connect-ED service used by approximately 200 colleges and universities and nearly 14,000 elementary and secondary schools nationwide to reach out to the campus community. The multi-modal service allows Earlham to send a prerecorded message to landline and cellular telephones as well as text messages, and e-mails. The service also can send messages to TTY/TDD receiving devices for the hearing impaired. The test occurred on Monday, February 18, 2008, at approximately 5:45 p.m. as Earlham activated its notification system for the first time. According to reports generated by Connect-ED, 94 percent of the messages sent were delivered successfully. Earlham's initial test found text messages to be one of the best methods of notification, especially since it generally takes significantly less bandwidth to receive a text message than a voice call. Earlham successfully sent messages to 855 devices during Monday's test. An awareness campaign for the College's notification service, dubbed the Earlham Urgency Network, began in January as students returned to campus after the semester break. In the process of confirming enrollment for the Spring Semester, students were asked to enter cell phone numbers and other contact information in the College's database to be used in case of an emergency. "We have been working diligently since last summer to ensure that Earlham students can be notified as fast as possible in case of a life-threatening event," said Provost Nelson Bingham, the convener of the College's Emergency Readiness and Recovery Planning (ERRP) committee, an ad hoc group of nearly two dozen faculty members who meet weekly to help guide the College in case of an emergency. "Catastrophic events can happen anywhere," says Bingham, "and recent tragedies such as the shootings at Northern Illinois University and the tornado devastation at Union University serve to drive this point home. It's imperative that students and faculty who have not already registered with the Earlham Urgency Network do so as soon as possible." Bingham notes that Earlham's February 18 test was planned far in advance of those incidents. While not a response to those events, he says that such events drive home the importance of participation. "The safety of everyone on the Earlham campus is our number one concern," Bingham continues. "We would like 100 percent of our community members to participate." While some have complained about the costs imposed by many providers associated with receiving text messages, Bingham says that shouldn't be an issue. "The College will text a person only if there is an actual emergency or a test of the system once or twice a year. I think it's worth the 50 cent investment for the text message. After all, it may save your life." Members of Bingham's ERRP committee have also developed an incident command structure based on the National Incident Management System (NIMS), which will allow Earlham to better communicate with community responders in case of an emergency. Many members of the committee have also participated in incident command training offered by the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA). "We began the ERRP committee soon after the shootings on the Virginia Tech campus in April 2007, that focused national attention on campus security and our abilities to respond immediately and efficiently to a tragedy, be it a violent person, a tornado or a fire," says Bingham. The ability to respond in times of crisis drove Bingham to convene the ERRP committee and that recognition is important says Earlham Director of Campus Safety and Security Cathy Anthofer. "Preparedness is everyone's business," she says, "and to be prepared, we need to explore our responses to a wide variety of scenarios, most of which we hope will never occur." Earlham's Director of Computing Services Tom Steffes is currently analyzing the data generated by Monday's test to ensure that the College is reaching as many people in as many ways as possible. — EC — Contact:
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Earlham
College · 801 National Road West · Richmond,
Indiana 47374-4095 |