New emergency contact system coming next term

A new emergency contact system for alerting faculty and staff to campus security threats will be in place beginning spring term at Portland State, following an ad hoc committees research examining emergency preparedness by PSU.

The system is being contracted to National Notification Network, or 3N, which is used by hospitals, businesses and colleges throughout the United States. At PSU, 3N will be used to send messages to students and faculty via e-mail and cell phone text messages, according to PSU Chief Information Officer Sharon Blanton. She said the annual subscription cost for 3N is $30,000, but students will not be charged more in student fees or a subscription cost to opt into the network, which they must do to get the service.

Mike Soto, chief of Campus Public Safety, said the network will allow him and other high-ranking administrators to contact 3N and have emergency notices sent out with minimal delay. He said the notices may be sent out in the case of violent threats, such as an armed person terrorizing the campus or a bomb threat, notices of inclement weather or anything else that “affects the majority of campus at one time.”

Blanton said the network will be operational beginning spring term and that there will be some testing done in small groups before going fully online. She said a free application will be distributed to students and faculty in the coming weeks who want to opt into the network by submitting a current e-mail and phone number.

A key concern with the current system is the delay caused by sending mass messages, according to Blanton. Because of the heavy traffic, she said, the Office of Information Technology suggested that an off-campus server be used for the emergency contacts, instead of the server that manages ODIN accounts.

The decision to upgrade the alert system was made by Oregon University System Chancellor George Pernsteiner, in response to the massacre at Virginia Tech last April. He formed an ad hoc safety committee to review PSU campus security along with other OUS schools. The committee has held several focus groups to collect public input and discuss the available options in the last month.

The committee is also reviewing the status of the Campus Public Safety Office, including how much training officers receive and what sort of weapons they should be allowed to carry, if any. A report based on the committee’s findings is being finalized by PSU Vice President for Finance and Administration, Lindsay Desrochers, and should be finished by the end of this week, said Rod Tammen chair of the safety committee. Once the report has been finalized, he said, a copy will be made available to the public.

Mark Gregory, associate vice president for Strategic Planning, Partnerships and Technology in the Finance and Administration office, said several systems were surveyed and that 3N was selected because it is well established.

“3N bubbled to the top of our list when we were seeking to enhance security after Virginia Tech, and we’re hoping that most of the faculty, staff and students will opt in,” Gregory said.

One concern, Gregory said, is convincing students who are worried about sharing their personal phone numbers and e-mails with the network to sign up.

“There’s always some hesitation from people concerned about privacy, but this a safety issue and there really isn’t a downside to being in the network,” he said. “It’s going to be a multi-faceted system of keeping campus safe, and given the volume of people coming and going throughout campus, we will keep the network well maintained and operated.”

Greg Baty, a PSU student and military veteran, spoke at out a Feb. 7 safety forum with some concerns about the changes to emergency preparedness at the university.

“How do you decide what constitutes a worthwhile message? I don’t need to hear about every last thing going wrong, but I do need to know if someone is on campus with a gun or if a bomb threat exists,” Baty said. “And what about too many messages? If too many small things are sent to all of campus, people won’t take the big ones seriously.”

Blanton said that only a handful of administrators are allowed to contact 3N and request an emergency notice, including Gregory, Soto, Interim PSU President Michael Reardon and Desrochers.