Students have complained in the past about Ball State's timeliness with its alerts during emergencies, but some students said Ball State's system is improving, especially following the bomb scare on-campus Feb. 17.
Police evacuated the L.A. Pittenger Student Center Feb. 17 after a student dropped off a suspicious package at BSU Parking Services. The package was a Cousin Vinny’s pizza box filled with change and the student’s parking ticket. During the evacuation, emergency texts and emails went out to students, and emergency alerts ran on some TVs on campus.
Alan Hargrave, chair of the crisis management team, said the team tries to provide safety to students by putting information out about emergencies as many ways as they can.
Alandria Smith, a freshman athletic training major, said she received the text message informing her of the bomb scare and immediately sent it to her friends.
Other students like Lauren Ravenell, a freshman telecommunications major, said she is not signed up to receive the emergency text messages. She wasn’t aware of the bomb scare because she didn’t look at her email when it was sent out and had to find out through word of mouth.
“I don’t check my email every 20 minutes. I get enough Ball State emails,” Ravenell said.
Smith said the school should do a better job informing students how to set up emergency text alerts because not everyone keeps close tabs on their email.
“With email, you either get it or you don’t,” Smith said.
Corrine Lower, a freshman social studies secondary education major, said she would not change anything about Ball State’s emergency alert system except how much information they send out. She said if the messages are too brief, students may begin to worry.
“The university has done a wonderful job in notifying students on what is going on,” Lower said.
Hargrave said the TV alerts are tied to the electronic messaging boards and go out when the emergency texts are sent. The TV picture is bright red and has a triangle with an exclamation point in it and the warning below. Hargrave said the TV alerts are not new.
Lower said she didn’t see the emergency alerts on any of the TVs on campus during the bomb scare. Ravenell said she wasn’t aware that specific TVs were emergency TVs.
Smith said overall, the text message alerts are the most convenient and helpful for students.
“Text message is the best way because you’re always going to have your phone on you,” Smith said.
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