C.W. Post to Test Emergency Alert System April 2

Brookville, N.Y. -- In another major step toward emergency preparedness, the C.W. Post Campus of Long Island University will test its new emergency notification system on Wednesday, April 2 from 12 noon to 1 p.m.

More than 2,700 members of the Campus community have signed up for the C.W. Post Emergency Alert System, which was implemented last November. In an urgent situation such as a catastrophic accident or the presence of a dangerous person on Campus, the system can rapidly notify students, faculty and staff by cell phone, text message, landline, instant message or e-mail. Such messages would contain information about what is happening and important safety instructions.

“We want the entire campus to become familiar with this new method of communication,” said Paul Rapess, director of public safety at C.W. Post. “The system is designed to disseminate critical information in time of an emergency.”

On April 2, the system will send a test message only to those who registered for the system. Students, faculty and staff who have not registered for the system were sent registration instructions and authorization codes to their University e-mail accounts on Sunday, March 23.

Rapess noted that the system is for a major crisis only. “To safeguard our campus, want people to pay full attention to messages sent from C.W. Post Alert. The system will not be used for everyday messages.” The C.W. Post Campus will continue to use its other communication measures in place such as the C.W. Post Web site (www.liu.edu/cwpost) and the emergency phone line (516-299-EMER) to disseminate information about less severe situations such as snow closings and power outages.

For more information about the C.W. Post Emergency Alert System, visit www.liu.edu/cwpalert.

Posted: March 25, 2008