Devilishly Daunting Weather

Be in the know when it comes to snow or emergencies

November 20, 2007

Snow kidding: Students, faculty and employees who register for Dickinson Red Alert will receive notice of a crisis or weather emergency via cell phones, traditional telephones or instant-messaging.

For savvy students, gone are the days of trudging through treacherous piles of snow and ice only to learn upon arrival that classes have been cancelled. If extreme weather conditions cause the college to close, those enrolled in Dickinson Red Alert will be the first to know.

This fall the college launched Dickinson Red Alert, a new emergency-notification service, as part of an ongoing effort to update the college's comprehensive emergency-response plan. But, despite the program's importance and usefulness, enrollment has idled.

"Dickinson Red Alert will be used to quickly reach the members of our campus community in the event of a crisis, disaster or weather emergency," as stated in communications to students, faculty, staff and families about the new system.

The college contracted National Notification Network (3n) to handle notification services. Through 3n, simultaneous messages can be sent to students and employees through cell phones, instant-messaging, or traditional telephones according to enrollees' preferences.

In the event of an emergency, the system will cycle through a user's contacts in order of priority listed, until the user confirms receiving the message.

The college will continue to use other tools of communication, but the Dickinson Red Alert system is now the primary means of communication in an emergency.

Although registering is voluntary, Dee Danser, director of public safety, says, "It is imperative that people register so in the event of an emergency, we can get information—which may impact campus safety—to as many people as possible."

Dean of Students April Vari '82 adds, "We are strongly encouraging students to register. Students not registered with the system do risk being uninformed about critically important information."

And students shouldn't be concerned about registering. It only takes about five minutes to enroll online, and Dickinson will never distribute or sell users' information or send any messages that are not related to campus safety and weather emergencies. Users' accounts only remain active while they are students or employees of the college.

Unfortunately, current enrollment is low with only 37 percent of students and 53 percent of employees registered. If being uninformed during a campus emergency is not incentive enough to register, just weigh the five-minute registration against a long, icy trek from the Quads to Denny, just to have to turn back around because classes were cancelled due to the weather.

For more information about Dickinson Red Alert, consult www.dickinson.edu/redalert or contact the Department of Public Safety at (717) 245-1349 for further assistance or to obtain a registration PIN.