By Daniel Stoller
In the aftermath of the Virginia Tech shootings, Northeastern, along with many other universities, is rolling out a new emergency response system designed to deliver emergency information to students quickly.
The system, like the recently lauded “Send Word Now” system unveiled at Boston University (BU), uses a combination of e-mails, text messages and voice recordings to inform students and their parents of dangerous situations occurring on campus and in the surrounding areas. It will be phased in by the end of September, said Jim Ferrier, associate director of public safety. Ferrier said the new system was chosen by a task force that represented all facets of student life, including deans, public safety administrators and other university staff members.
“On the subject of emergency preparedness, the university has procedures in place,” Ferrier said. “The communication [between Public Safety and other departments] has been wonderful.”
Last week, the current system was tested when a shooting occurred at the Ruggles T station. Ferrier said the Public Safety Office sent a mass e-mail to all addresses in the university network to warn the Northeastern community of the incident. But an informal survey of more than 50 students, professors and staff members revealed that only two received the e-mail.
“I guess it is pretty concerning that I didn’t hear anything about this,” said Amanda Paull, a freshman undeclared major.
Dan Kennedy, an associate journalism professor, said he was also surprised to learn that an e-mail was sent out since he didn’t get it until days later.
“The Northeastern Police Department deserves credit for doing what it can to make us aware of incidents on or near the campus, but it’s up to people like me not to ignore such notices when they arrive,” Kennedy said.
Ferrier said the new system will reach every student, parent and faculty member and will be an effective addition to the emergency response measures already in place, should an emergency similar to the Virginia Tech shootings occur. Ferrier called that incident “unforeseeable.”
“That has never happened before, where a shooting occurred in one place and then was repeated two hours later by the same shooter,” he said.
While BU’s system is meant to prevent situations like this, Ferrier said BU didn’t have the emergency contact information of a large majority of students, which is a major flaw. BU’s The Daily Free Press reported 74 percent of students had not registered as of Sept. 5.
Northeastern solved that problem by blocking students’ access to the myNEU website until they filled out emergency contact forms, which included cell phone numbers and any non-NEU email addresses, Ferrier said. Eighty-seven percent of Northeastern students completed the emergency contact form, he said.
With the new system in place next month, Ferrier said emergency response at Northeastern will be more effective than before.
“Are we perfect? No,” he said. “Do we have a very high level senior administrative commitment to emergency preparedness? Yes.”
