2008 Woodie Awards
Emergency phones to be installed
By: Alex Piazza
Issue date: 11/12/07 Section: News
- Page 1 of 1
Students soon will be able to be notified of an emergency on campus without having to leave their classroom.
Information Technology officials are in the process of installing more than 300 new telephones in classrooms across campus that will disperse emergency messages to students, faculty and staff.
Many of the classrooms already have existing telephones, but IT officials are attaching additional speakers so that Central Michigan University Police dispatchers can relay the emergency messages throughout the entire room, said Police Chief Stan Dinius.
"We would blast a message to one or all of the phones," he said.
Dinius said the messages could relate to anything from weather emergencies to campus shootings. The messages also could be sent primarily to specific locations, depending on the situation at hand.
The telephones, which are slated to be completely installed by the end of this month, will allow faculty members to contact local media outlets to disseminate the emergency messages.
IT officials initially were going to install 315 emergency telephones on campus, but that number is subject to increase, said Rich Morrison, associate vice president for public relations and marketing.
"A phone will be installed in every building on campus in which classes are held," Morrison said.
The project is estimated to cost the university about $35,000, Morrison said.
University officials have been working in conjunction with members of Isabella County Emergency Management to ensure events such as the one that took place last April at Virginia Tech do not happen in Mount Pleasant.
CMU's Crisis Core Group, which includes Dinius, Morrison, Dean of Students Bruce Roscoe and Interim Vice President for Finance and Administrative Services Barrie Wilkes, meet on a regular basis to discuss how the university can enhance its emergency protocol.
Morrison said the group considered many initiatives, including a service that would notify students, faculty and staff of emergencies through text messaging.
CMU is in contract negotiations with an outside vendor to provide a system through which students, faculty and staff could register their cell phone numbers into an online database, which would send mass emergency text messages to everyone who registered, Morrison said.
"We have not yet signed the bottom line on the contract, but we're looking at the same type of system that Virginia Tech installed," Morrison said.
news@cm-life.com
Information Technology officials are in the process of installing more than 300 new telephones in classrooms across campus that will disperse emergency messages to students, faculty and staff.
Many of the classrooms already have existing telephones, but IT officials are attaching additional speakers so that Central Michigan University Police dispatchers can relay the emergency messages throughout the entire room, said Police Chief Stan Dinius.
"We would blast a message to one or all of the phones," he said.
Dinius said the messages could relate to anything from weather emergencies to campus shootings. The messages also could be sent primarily to specific locations, depending on the situation at hand.
The telephones, which are slated to be completely installed by the end of this month, will allow faculty members to contact local media outlets to disseminate the emergency messages.
IT officials initially were going to install 315 emergency telephones on campus, but that number is subject to increase, said Rich Morrison, associate vice president for public relations and marketing.
"A phone will be installed in every building on campus in which classes are held," Morrison said.
The project is estimated to cost the university about $35,000, Morrison said.
University officials have been working in conjunction with members of Isabella County Emergency Management to ensure events such as the one that took place last April at Virginia Tech do not happen in Mount Pleasant.
CMU's Crisis Core Group, which includes Dinius, Morrison, Dean of Students Bruce Roscoe and Interim Vice President for Finance and Administrative Services Barrie Wilkes, meet on a regular basis to discuss how the university can enhance its emergency protocol.
Morrison said the group considered many initiatives, including a service that would notify students, faculty and staff of emergencies through text messaging.
CMU is in contract negotiations with an outside vendor to provide a system through which students, faculty and staff could register their cell phone numbers into an online database, which would send mass emergency text messages to everyone who registered, Morrison said.
"We have not yet signed the bottom line on the contract, but we're looking at the same type of system that Virginia Tech installed," Morrison said.
news@cm-life.com
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