• Znine
• Campus Calendar
• My Mav
• UTA Radio
• UTA Home
• Student Email
• Libraries
• Wikipedia

• Local Forecast
• Movie Listings
• Traffic Info
• TV Listings

June 12, 2007

Student Life

Service can text message campus alerts

The cell phone coupon company can help inform students of emergencies.

Story by: Diana Golobay

Contributor to The Shorthorn

The idea is simple. If there’s a shooter in Davis Hall, security-alert text messages will inform students and faculty to avoid the area until authorities arrive.

It’s part of a package deal with Mobile Campus, a text-message coupon provider. According to student government officials, the university can implement the service, which students can sign up for to receive emergency-related text messages on their cell phones.

Jeff Sorensen, Student Affairs assistant vice president, hopes efforts to inform new and returning students will cause an increase in Mobile Campus enrollment. He said students in orientation and current students will be given letters explaining the service.

Student Congress president Collins Watson said enrollment could be higher. He said Student Congress is 4,000 sign-ups short of its 6,000-enrollee goal.

Student Congress receives $1 per sign-up within the first year of the contract and a percentage of revenue for the following years. Mobile Campus spokesman Clayton Stewart explained that while no funds are given for the sign-ups solely interested in receiving security alerts, the service is still free.

Company founder George Tingo said university administrators are in charge of security-alert content, which could include school closings, cancellations due to weather and emergency information. He said Mobile Campus has had an operational emergency-alert system since the company began in 2005.

Tingo said the Virginia Tech tragedy has spurred interest in the system.

“We’ve talked to numerous universities interested in getting the alert system up and running by fall,” he said.

Sorensen said the Virginia Tech shooting was a factor in the university’s decision to implement the alert system.

Frank Lamas, Student Affairs vice president, said he signed up for the service Friday to see what kind of messages students were receiving. He said the security alerts are part of an effort to prevent events like the Virginia Tech shooting from occurring at UTA. Lamas said the university is also equipped to alert students and faculty to emergency situations through a public announcement system.

“What we have done with Mobile Campus is provide another opportunity for individuals to receive important info,” he said. “It’s one more facet of the many ways people will be notified in emergency situations.”

Incoming nursing freshman Kailey Cherry didn’t know about the service until she walked past the Mobile Campus kiosk in the University Center on Friday.

“It makes me feel safer,” she said. “If something were to happen, we wouldn’t be in the dark.”

Parents of incoming students also expressed relief. David Bush, whose son signed up Friday, said the service is a good idea.

“More and more people are communicating through text messages these days,” he said. “It moves information a lot quicker.”