University Offers Free Text Notifications

By Broadside Correspondent Alexandrea Crockett

With over 30,000 students across all three of George Mason University’s campuses, one would hope that in case of an emergency, there would be an easy way to inform and warn Mason students, faculty and staff. Such a system exists, called Mason Alert.

Mason Alert is an emergency alert service offered by the Environmental Health and Safety Office. The system, which is free, allows the university to send text messages and e-mails to cell phones, pagers, Blackberries and Treos.

While all Mason faculty, students and staff are eligible for the emergency alert system, there are currently only about 15,000 registered members.

“I think the Mason community should be concerned because you never know when something may happen on campus and it is another way to prepare yourself in case of an emergency,” said senior Maureen Higgins, a communication major.

Senior Lisa O’Mara feels that part of the lack of registration may be due to the amount of messages received.

For O’Mara, it is not the overwhelming amount of messages received that is the issue, but the lack thereof.

“Sometimes, the system will fail to send a text message, but I always receive the e-mails,” said O’Mara. “In the event of an emergency, I would want the text message and I am sure others would agree that is something they would rather get instead of an e-mail, in case they don’t have access to a computer.”

“Our hope as a team this semester is to build awareness among the student body and faculty as much as possible on Mason Alert. One disadvantage is that there are still a large number of people unregistered. We hope to change that in the future,” said O’Mara.

To sign up for Mason Alert, visit alert.gmu.edu or send a text message to 411911, keyword MASON.

To specify what sort of message alerts you wish to receive, you can edit your preferences on the same Web site:
http://www.alert.gmu.edu.