A wave of students have signed up for the university’s text message alerts this week as officers use Emergency Awareness Week to build momentum for the new warning system, police said.
More than 870 students have registered since the drive began Monday, said University Police Spokesman Paul Dillon. Officers stood outside of the South Campus Dining Hall to provide informational fliers and Internet-equipped laptops to students to allow on-the-spot sign up for the alert system. Officers will be located outside of the Stamp Student Union today and the North Campus Diner Friday from 10:30 a.m. until 1:30 p.m. so students in other parts of the campus can register, said Maj. Jay Gruber of University Police.
The system was introduced last semester shortly after the Virginia Tech shootings, but with only a few weeks left in the spring semester, there wasn’t much time to register students, said Doug Duncan, the vice president for administrative affairs.
The police-manned tables, as well as e-mail reminders and other efforts aim to bolster participation, he said.
Many freshmen were asked to register during summer orientation, but returning students still need to be acclimated to the program, Duncan explained.
Gruber said he has worked out some of the kinks in the system since a text message warning went out to students last month about a carjacking outside of Easton Hall. After the incident, students said they received multiple, often incomplete messages.
“Some people got four messages, some people got three messages, some people got two,” Gruber said. “The important thing is we got it out.”
Gruber said since the incident he has shortened the templates of pre-typed text messages to ensure all of the words will fit in one message.
Gruber has overseen the implementation of several emergency awareness measures on the campus – including a campus-wide siren and electronic alert stations in some buildings – since a tornado ravaged the campus and killed two students in 2001.
“We want everybody [to register],” Duncan said. “That would be ideal.
“We’ll take a look at it at the end of this week to see where we are and to see what we need to do to get people signed up,” he added.
Gruber agreed 100 percent participation would be ideal, but between 50 and 75 percent of the campus population would be a satisfactory and a more realistic goal. He said if at least half the campus is registered, than people are bound to hear the news quickly by word of mouth.
The number of students registered for the program jumped 12 percent after last month’s carjacking. Many students said they were motivated to register after witnessing friends receiving the alerts.
“People have to be willing to do a little work on their part to keep themselves safe,” Gruber said. “We’ve done all the heavy lifting and all the hard work, we just need you do this last piece for us and register.”
Students can register for the service via cell phone by texting ‘UMD’ to 411911 or online by visiting www.alert.umd.edu.
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