In order to better notify the campus community in the event of a crisis, Western recently implemented a new emergency notification system called Griffon Alert, which is comprised of a text messaging feature. Chief of Police Jon Kelley said The Governors task force on campus safety suggested the creation of a fail safe system to alert the entire campus population in the event of an emergency, and that is what Western did.
Several systems were looked at and the university ultimately chose this one.
“This system will allow for a more timely notice to the campus community in the event of an emergency that might impact the community,” Kelley said.
Griffon Alert is designed to send urgent messages to the cell phones and e-mail addresses of students, faculty and staff members who wish to sign up for the service.
Situations in which a message will be sent include:
-Ongoing safety threats in which an armed or dangerous criminal is on campus
-Major facility emergencies or evacuations such as fires or gas leaks
-Severe weather or illness
-Timely notification of crime
On account of the limitations of text messaging, these messages will be brief and contain only vital information.
It requires no fees—only the regular charges made by each individual’s mobile phone provider for text messaging.
“We are hopeful that all campus community members will take advantage of the texting/e-mailing notification option,” Kelley said.
Dean of Student Services, Judith Grimes, said it is very critical to let students and faculty know that the service is there for them.
“The challenge with Griffon Alert is to get people to sign up for it,” Grimes said.
She encourages any students to make suggestions to help publicize this.
Students and employees are free to sign up at any time.
Those interested may visit www.missouriwestern.edu/griffonalert and follow the instructions for creating an account.
Each individual’s Western e-mail user name and password should be used.
After registering, a verification text message will be sent to each phone.
Signing up for e-mail alerts is an option, and one may choose to only sign up for an e-mail alert. Users are allowed to list up to two cell phone numbers and two e-mail addresses on their Griffon Alert account. The discussion about having something like this on campus started quite a few years ago, according to Grimes.
“It’s a huge monetary investment,” Grimes said.
“It shows the commitment of the institution.” In the future, some added element to the Griffon Alert emergency notification system may consist of indoor emergency beacons with audio and visual alarms, LCD text displays and text-to-voice enunciators.
There will also be various options for students with disabilities such as blindness or hearing loss.
For example, there may be flashing lights to alert students unable to hear a fire alarm.
The text/e-mail aspect of Griffon Alert is a big deal, but, “it’s just part of the bigger puzzle,” Grimes said.