IU-Notify now texts to alert students

Some students woke up Wednesday morning to a text message from IU-Notify, alerting them that campus was closed until noon.

“It was the best feeling in the whole wide world,” said freshman Stephanie Bradley.
Others still believed classes were happening as usual and got out of bed to begin their morning routine.

Sophomore Erin Boen, who is not signed up to receive the text messages from IU-Notify, received an e-mail from her professor explaining classes were cancelled before her 8 a.m. class on Wednesday.

Out of the 66,000 people registered to receive alerts from IU-Notify, only 7,900 have signed up for the text-messaging feature, said Kirk White, director of community relations for IU’s Office of Public Affairs and Government Relations.

“That’s not very good,” he said.

While every student received an e-mail from IU-Notify and the announcement was posted on their Web site, White still encourages students to update their information and sign up for the text-messaging option.

Students are encouraged to sign up for text messages because it’s one of the fastest ways to get the messages to them, White said.

Mark Bruhn, associate vice president for Information and Infrastructure Assurance, agrees with White, explaining that even though two announcements were sent out, some students still showed up to class.

“Beyond that though, every other campus incident we studied told us that fast communication is key to making sure students know that there is an emergency,” he said in an e-mail.

White and Bruhn also said they think that students are not signing up for this feature because they’re too busy with other things.

“We all find ourselves in that situation from time to time,” Bruhn said.

“I just keep forgetting to do it,” Boen said.

White also explained that students might be worried about security and giving their phone number out to someone they don’t know.

Boen said she wouldn’t know how to update her information, and that is a reason why she hasn’t signed up yet.

If students want to sign up to receive the text messages from IU-Notify, they can log on to OneStart, click on the Notifications tab and click on IU-Notify. The screen will show the information already saved, and students can enter their cell phone number in the text messaging field, White said.

“We just have to get it on people’s agendas,” White said.
Bruhn explained that there are plans to make it easier for students to sign up during orientation and believes that it’s easy to do on Onestart.

“We certainly can’t force students to provide their mobile contact information,” he said. “But it seems a quick and easy thing to do to ensure that they get emergency notifications in a timely manner.”