Current Release: September 11th, 2007 | Vol. XXIV Iss. 10

e2Campus:txting in emergecies

By jeni meyers

jlmeyers@vwc.edu

After the Virginia Tech shootings last semester, everyone was shaken. Then issues within the emergency response plan were raised and, as a result, colleges and universities across the nation began to reevaluate their emergency action plans. VWC was one of these colleges, and along with the new semester came the introduction of new security measures.

Among these new measures is e2Campus, which is an online site where students can register to receive a text message alerting them of an emergency on campus.

However, when a majority of professors (every one that I ve had anywhere) do not allow cell phones during class time, how are the students supposed to hear the text messages? The solution to this problem is the installation of a siren on campus; when the siren is sounded that will alert students and faculty to check their cell phones.

For a generation when cell pones are becoming one of the main avenues of communication, this plan is ideal to reach a majority of students. Because seriously, even if students are not supposed to have cell phones, how many of us really don t have our cell phones with us on silent or vibrate in class? The new e2Campus program will be an effective way to reach students. Just take a look at how many received the accidental test text message Sept. 10th, although it would have been nice to be warned it was a test before everyone evacuated. Even if only one person in a classroom is registered, that person will be able to alert the rest of the class.

For the type of audience they are attempting to reach and the private community that makes up VWC, the E2campus aspect of the new response team might be as effective as we can get in communicating with the masses.