New alert system has opt-out policy

A new emergency alert system, LoboAlerts, is replacing TextMe as the method the University uses to inform students of emergencies on campus.
LoboAlerts, which is being implemented this semester, is a system that automatically signs students up to receive alerts.

Byron Piatt, Emergency Operations manager, said the old system only allowed small numbers of people on campus to receive alerts.
“This is an opt-out system versus an opt-in system,” he said. “We were able to take everyone that has an active role with the University — all student, faculty, staff, hospital employees — and preload them into the system.”

If a student had a cell phone number in the banner system, it was automatically loaded into the LoboAlert system, Piatt said. With the TextMe system, students had to sign up and create an account.

Piatt said the process took several months to set up, but it is now seamless for students to be added to the system.
“If a student were to register today, within 24 hours they would be in the Lobo Alert system without any additional input on their side,” he said.

Piatt said the new system, which includes sirens, e-mail messages, text alerts and webpage updates, would make it easier to notify the majority of people on campus immediately.

“This system will be a faster messaging system,” he said. “It is finding out all the facts of the incident and sending the message out that can be a time consuming process.”

UNM senior Andrea Maestas said she hadn’t signed up for the TextMe system and had never really found a need for it.
“I had never found the time to sign up for it before,” she said. “But I can see how it could be useful.”
Maestas said she doesn’t think emergencies happen often enough on campus to make the system necessary.
“I think people might opt out because the messages might bother them,” she said.

Piatt said the option to take one’s name off the list is meant help students who have restrictive
messaging plans.
“It gives them an option to opt out,” he said. “But our preference is that no one opts out.”
The entire notification system will be tested at the beginning of every semester, including the University’s emergency siren system. The next test this semester is scheduled for Sept. 4 at 11 a.m.

Piatt said students should seek shelter in the nearest building when the siren sounds.
The sound will last for one minute and then be followed by an “all clear” sound, indicating students may go about their business.
Piatt said UNM is one of many universities using emergency sirens to improve campus safety.
“It is to warn students of all

prospective hazards, not any one issue,” he said. “Many other college campuses are having similar sirens installed to warn of emergencies such as severe weather conditions or dangers on campus.”
Junior Samantha Eastham said it makes sense to have an alarm for emergencies.

“I didn’t know about the siren, but I think if I heard it I would stay inside,” she said. “I think it is useful and will make campus a safer place.”
The emergency notification system was one of UNM President David Schmidly’s initiatives.