2008 Woodie Awards
Emergency alert system's new addition
Sarah Zeeck
Issue date: 4/18/08 Section: News
A new form of emergency alert will soon grace Western Illinois University's campus. According to Office of Public Safety Director Bob Fitzgerald, a public address system will be added to some of the emergency call boxes.
"After Virginia Tech, we started looking at ways to notify students of any situations on campus that we felt needed to be (announced) immediately," Fitzgerald said. "We came up with the emergency alert system, and (the public address system) was another thing we looked at because not everyone has immediate access to a computer or their cell phones if they're walking to class."
Fitzgerald also said the speakers added to the call boxes will utilize prerecorded messages sent out from OPS to alert people on campus of emergency situations. They can also be used directly with a microphone.
"We'll be able to address it with a microphone if we need to from campus here and just say what we want to say," Fitzgerald said.
There will be 20 sets of speakers installed by Fall Semester. Fitzgerald said there will not be speakers on every box because they are in close enough proximity to each other that a broad area will be covered.
"We're going to try to get the broadest coverage around campus to give out an emergency message for those who are out in the open," he added.
"After Virginia Tech, we started looking at ways to notify students of any situations on campus that we felt needed to be (announced) immediately," Fitzgerald said. "We came up with the emergency alert system, and (the public address system) was another thing we looked at because not everyone has immediate access to a computer or their cell phones if they're walking to class."
Fitzgerald also said the speakers added to the call boxes will utilize prerecorded messages sent out from OPS to alert people on campus of emergency situations. They can also be used directly with a microphone.
"We'll be able to address it with a microphone if we need to from campus here and just say what we want to say," Fitzgerald said.
There will be 20 sets of speakers installed by Fall Semester. Fitzgerald said there will not be speakers on every box because they are in close enough proximity to each other that a broad area will be covered.
"We're going to try to get the broadest coverage around campus to give out an emergency message for those who are out in the open," he added.
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