C.W. Post Launches New Emergency Alert System
Will instantly notify students, faculty and staff during major emergencies
by cell phone, text message, landline or IM

Brookville, N.Y. - A new system for notifying students, faculty and staff by cell phone, text message and e-mail in the event of an emergency is up and running at the C.W. Post Campus of Long Island University.

The C.W. Post Emergency Alert System was launched at 10 p.m. on Monday, Nov. 5, 2007 with an e-mail to 9,200 C.W. Post students that included instructions on registering for the system. Overnight, more than 120 students had registered, campus administrators said.

"The Emergency Alert System will provide critical information to the Campus community in the event of a major emergency, such as a sudden threat of severe weather, a potentially catastrophic accident or the presence of a dangerous person on campus," C.W. Post Provost Joseph Shenker said. "We hope we will never have to activate the system except for testing. Should we need to use it, however, this system will greatly increase the safety of the campus community."

Students, faculty and staff need to register and provide contact information such as cell phone numbers in order to receive emergency alerts. Postcards announcing the system were sent to students' home this week and posters were placed at various campus sites advertising the system.

An Emergency Alert System help desk will be staffed from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. through Dec. 17. It is located in front of the Cinema in Hillwood Commons. Students with questions about registering for the Emergency Alert System can contact the Office of Information Technology on a special hotline, (516) 299-2700, or by e-mail at alerthelp@cwpost.liu.edu. More information about the Emergency Alert System can be found at its Web site, www.liu.edu/cwpalert.

As is standard procedure when launching university notification systems, students will register first. Registration for faculty and staff will begin in approximately two weeks.

Long Island University has contracted with 3n (National Notification Network) of Glendale, Calif., one of the top vendors of emergency notification services, for the Emergency Alert System.

Upon registering, students, faculty and staff choose which contact options they prefer - including cell phone; text message; office, room or home phone; personal and C.W. Post e-mail; and instant message.

Posted: November 6, 2007