Campus Reactions to Mass Notification

Abstract

Andrea M. Butler Kathryn D. LafreniereOn April 16, 2007, a gunman opened fire at Virginia Tech University, killing 32 people before taking his own life (Blake, 2007). In the aftermath of such a violent campus incident, many universities are looking for ways to improve policies and programs that promote campus safety and allow them to effectively handle emergency situations. Many universities are considering the imple­mentation of a mass notification system, which in the event of a campus emergency would allow local crime prevention agencies, such as Campus Police, to transmit critical information to classrooms, offices, laboratories, and residence buildings. A variety of technological devices (e.g., cell phones, PDAs, BlackBerrys, and computers) and communication media (e.g., e­mail, text messages, internet banners, and PA systems) would be used to transfer these messages across campus. However, before a university commits to the purchase of a particular system, administrators should first determine how students, faculty, and staff will feel about the use of a particular technology for emergency mass notification procedures. For example, how effective would an e­mail message be that is sent out as part of an emergency warning considering that many individuals may not check their e­mail frequently? The Campus Police at the University of Windsor were interested in considering such issues before implementing such a system. Thus, the purpose of the current research was to (a) determine how campus community members felt about the use of mass notification technologies, (b) address any issues with those technologies, and (c) recommend how Campus Police could best encourage students, faculty, and staff to accept and utilize such a system with the goal of creating a safer campus for all.