Each year, UNM spends more than $1 per student per year on the LoboAlerts system, even though recipients have only received the alerts twice this school year.
Jeff Gilmore, a University purchasing department representative, said UNM dedicates $35,000 in its annual operating budget to maintain the emergency alert system, which was last used Jan. 4 after a gunman allegedly fired a shot into the sixth floor ceiling of the UNM Hospital pediatric unit.
LoboAlerts was implemented during the fall 2010 in an effort to reach more students in the case of an emergency. The previous service, TextMe, was an opt-in system, meaning UNM members could receive an alert if they signed up. The current system automatically signs up anyone with a banner ID for e-mail alerts, but staff, faculty and students can opt out.
UNM bought the emergency system from a California company. Gilmore said the University spent nearly $50,000 on the initial start-up costs and is now in a fixed contract, including the $35,000 annual fee, with SunGuard to maintain the operating system.
Byron Piatt, emergency operations manager, said the system will be faster if more people sign up to use the LoboAlerts system.
“We are going to start a campaign to inform students, faculty and staff that they should enter a cell phone number in the banner system in order to receive text alerts,” he said.
Besides text messages, LoboAlerts sends subscribers e-mails, Twitter updates and hosts a website.
University officials will undergo after-action reviews to ensure future response is more efficient.
President David Schmidly made LoboAlerts one of his priorities when he took over in 2007.
“All of this ultimately falls into my lap,” he said in an earlier interview. “If there’s a major incident on campus. You’re looking at who’s going to be held accountable.”
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