News Release

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

October 4, 2007                                                                     FOR MORE INFORMATION, CONTACT:
Nicole Olsen
(703) 608-8660
nolsen@gmu.edu

Mason’s Alert System a Valuable Safety Tool, Despite Several Kinks

George Mason University’s new safety alert system, still in its infancy, is struggling to attract participation from Mason’s students and staff, says the universities director of Fire Safety Programs.

Built to serve Mason’s more than 35,000 faculty, staff and students, only 10,000 have signed up to receive text messages to their phones alerting them of a potentially dangerous situation on campus. 

This, fire safety official Jay Callan says, is “disappointing.”

“I would have expected much higher figures, with the tragedy of Virginia Tech still fresh in our minds,” he told a classroom of students while giving a presentation about campus safety preparedness.

Melissa Osborne, a junior English major, is one of the many Mason students who has not signed up for the new text messaging system.  “I am just not a big fan of text messages,” Melissa said. 

Although Osborne acknowledges a warning system to protect students from potential hazards is a good thing, she is not sure if the chosen method of communication is accessible as university officials believe it to be. 

“I have my cell phone with me all the time, everyday, but unless I know of something important is going on that I need to pay attention to, I am not all that concerned with what messages I am receiving to my phone,” she said.

“So, I just haven’t signed up for it, and I just hope someone nearby me has,” Osborne added.

The new alert system, just implemented this semester, is now three weeks old, and Mason officials are still trying to work out what types of messages should be sent out.  These temporary bugs in the system are what Callan calls growing pains.

But despite what messages are sent out by the emergency system, Callan is confident that within 10-15 minutes students’ will have the necessary information to make informed decisions about their safety.

Another problem affecting the reliance of a text based emergency alert system is a disconnect between the needs of Mason’s administration and professors, says Police Chief Michael Lynch.

While the administration would like to urge students to keep their cell phones turned on at all times while on campus, professors, who have spent years devising clever punishments for those who dare to bring an un-muted phone into class, cringe at the thought.

The compromise devised by administration and faculty is to designate one student responsible for keeping his or her cell phone on during class, in case disaster was to strike Mason.  Although, this may cause the occasional distraction when a call from the boyfriend comes while in class, Lynch said that it is a small price to pay for the potential benefits of receiving emergency information in a timely matter.

Yet despite these laid out plans by Mason’s administration, students, like Ryan Bosch, a sophomore government major, and Amanda Murdock, a sophomore psychology major, still feel like they are being left in the dark when it comes to Mason’s safety measures. 

“As far as I know, no student has been instructed to leave their cell phone on in class,” Murdock said. 

“It’s a good idea,” Bosch said about the text messaging system, “but I am still unsure about how the system works and what to do in case I did receive an urgent message. Will the text give me specific instructions?”

While Bosch admits he may just be uninformed, he doesn’t feel he is alone. “I know I am not the only one with questions about the new text messaging system,” Bosch said. “And if information is available, I know I don’t see it anywhere.”

Although there are still many kinks in the new safety alerting system to be worked out, the objective of Mason Alert couldn’t be clearer.

“The purpose of the system,” Callan says, “is to provide you with information that will save your life, and help you make the right decisions for your personal safety.”

Callan said that even with all the information and expensive equipment available to prevent a dangerous situation at Mason, it is ultimately in the hands of the individual to learn what to do in case of an emergency.

“It’s that same lead the horse to water kind of story,” Callan said. “When the fire alarm goes off, then is not the time run over to the poster on the wall to find out what to do.”

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