Alert system gears up
Kurtis Hiatt - The Daily Iowan
Issue date: 8/27/07 Section: Metro
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After Nov. 1, officials in an emergency situation will send messages in all media simultaneously to all of its roughly 45,000 students and faculty members, Katsouros said.
The Hawk Alert system costs around $60,000 a year - $1 per student and $2 per faculty member, he said.
The new system will "absolutely" be better than the old one, said Charles Green, the assistant vice president for the UI police. The change in systems has been in the works since the tornado in April 2006, he said.
In addition to the Hawk Alert system, Green said four emergency alert towers were installed on the UI campus last week. They are located on Mormon Trek Boulevard, Elliott Drive, and Ridgeland and Melrose Avenues. A fifth is located on the Oakdale Campus.
The sirens can sound in emergency situations, and the towers also have voice capabilities, so an official can record a message and broadcast it across campus. Parrott said officials may eventually extend these voice alerts inside buildings.
Katsouros said the next step is training a handful of officials this week on how to utilize the Hawk Alert system. He said they are also considering a video medium to broadcast on the campus cable system.
"We're trying to take a complete multi-modal approach," he said. "We're in a position to avoid emergencies and tragedies."
Jerry Stewart, the public safety director at Iowa State University, said the school uses mass e-mail, telephone trees, and website updates for notifying students and faculty during emergencies. The school also has weather radios in most buildings, he said.
"These methods have been relatively effective," he wrote in an e-mail.
Still, the director said, officials are looking into a system similar to Hawk Alert.
In the meantime, UI officials will continue to develop ways to reach students via every medium possible.
"We're just trying to do the right thing," Katsouros said, "That's the bottom line."
E-mail DI reporter Kurtis Hiatt at:
kurtis-hiatt@uiowa.edu
The Hawk Alert system costs around $60,000 a year - $1 per student and $2 per faculty member, he said.
The new system will "absolutely" be better than the old one, said Charles Green, the assistant vice president for the UI police. The change in systems has been in the works since the tornado in April 2006, he said.
In addition to the Hawk Alert system, Green said four emergency alert towers were installed on the UI campus last week. They are located on Mormon Trek Boulevard, Elliott Drive, and Ridgeland and Melrose Avenues. A fifth is located on the Oakdale Campus.
The sirens can sound in emergency situations, and the towers also have voice capabilities, so an official can record a message and broadcast it across campus. Parrott said officials may eventually extend these voice alerts inside buildings.
Katsouros said the next step is training a handful of officials this week on how to utilize the Hawk Alert system. He said they are also considering a video medium to broadcast on the campus cable system.
"We're trying to take a complete multi-modal approach," he said. "We're in a position to avoid emergencies and tragedies."
Jerry Stewart, the public safety director at Iowa State University, said the school uses mass e-mail, telephone trees, and website updates for notifying students and faculty during emergencies. The school also has weather radios in most buildings, he said.
"These methods have been relatively effective," he wrote in an e-mail.
Still, the director said, officials are looking into a system similar to Hawk Alert.
In the meantime, UI officials will continue to develop ways to reach students via every medium possible.
"We're just trying to do the right thing," Katsouros said, "That's the bottom line."
E-mail DI reporter Kurtis Hiatt at:
kurtis-hiatt@uiowa.edu
Viewing Comments 1 - 1 of 2
christopher-wheeler
Chris
posted 8/27/07 @ 7:28 AM EST
Holy crap, this is wonderful news. My only question is, why has this taken so long? I've lived in the area for more than 3 years, and as this article mentioned, the local school system uses this. (Continued…)
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