LSC's new warning system

Katie Dorben
Critic Staff

Public Safety has adopted a system to send text messages to students in the event of an emergency.

Move over clear TXT, LSC has a new emergency warning system provided by e2campus.
This is an electronic system that will provide information on emergencies through text messages and email. These emergencies may be on or off campus, natural or man made disasters such as severe weather, a shooting, etc.

“The whole idea is to reach as many people as possible (in an emergency), to motivate them to spread the word,” said, LSC’s Director of Public, Safety George Hacking.
Last year was the first time Lyndon State had any type of warning system available to students. The need for some kind of campus wide warning system was prompted by the shootings at Virginia Tech and the examination of what could be done to make schools safer.

Emergency warning systems like e2campus are used to try to get the word out to as many people as possible in the shortest amount of time.
ClearTXT was sold out to another company, so Hacking reviewed other systems and e2campus seemed the best choice to replace it. The advantages of e2campus are its ease of use, the option for parents to sign up, and the option to get messages by email as well as text message.

The system is free; the only costs are those of receiving text messages.
The way it works is that one of the directors of the program here at LSC, Director of Public Safety George Hacking or Director of Student Life Jonathan Davis, are made aware of an emergency. They use a phone, computer, blackberry, or some other form of communication to create a warning which e2campus sends out to everyone who has signed up.

When asked what he wants students to know about e2campus, “If they don’t sign up, it’s a mistake. The information is only good if the people who it’s meant for sign up.”

To sign up, visit http://www.lyndonstate.edu/alert. It will lead you to a page where you can sign up for email or mobile alerts. From there you fill out the information and it will walk you through the steps to verifying it. Parents and faculty members can sign up as well. If you have any questions about the new system, you can contact Public Safety and they will try to help you.