2008 Woodie Awards
Staff Editorial
Investment in notification technology would benefit PSU
Issue date: 4/26/07 Section: Opinion
- Page 1 of 1
| While the mass shooting at Virginia Tech last Monday was shocking, perhaps more revelatory was that students were not notified of an active shooter on campus until administrators sent an e-mail alert two hours after the shooter claimed his first two lives. Surely, many asked, shouldn't students have been told of something of this magnitude earlier? And isn't there a better way than e-mail? How many lives could have been saved if there were some other system in place? This tragedy is a wake-up call. We at Pittsburg State University need to take significant steps toward keeping people safe in the event of another Virginia Tech massacre. E-mail is now the only system PSU authorities have to notify students, faculty and staff in case of emergency. This simply will not do. Other emergency notification systems are available that could help immeasurably. Systems that could save time. Systems that could save lives. One such system is a text-message system, which could notify college students on their cell phones of shootings, tornados and other emergencies. According to a story in USA Today, the chancellor of Florida's state university program asked the state Legislature for $1.5 million to implement this cell phone notification technology in all Florida state schools. While a sizable sum, this $1.5 million is piddling compared to the number of lives it could save. Another option is an all-call system, which would dial all phones on record with the university and deliver a prerecorded warning message. These phone systems could have a major impact on student safety. The USA Today story mentioned above also reports that M:Metrics researchers say around 16.6 million college students have cell phones. Considering that the Census counted 17.5 million part- and full-time students, cell phone alerts could reach 95 percent of students. These are only two options, and there are many more. Another choice is a voice over IP (VoIP) telecom system, which uses existing network cables to transmit voice messages. No system is foolproof, though, and no amount of preparation will prevent those who would hurt the innocent from doing so. But there is no obstacle to taking further notification measures - not the cost, not limitations, not the difficulty of implementation - that outweighs the cost of a single human life. The school spends countless millions on other programs. We should be willing to make a significant investment in the safety of current and future PSU students. We hope that the university will consider these options, in conjunction with the e-mail system already in place, as a means to better equip ourselves for that which we cannot predict. |
Be the first to comment on this story