Universities nationwide have begun openly discussing automated electronic alert systems in the wake of the Virginia Tech shootings, especially with administrators from that school facing tough questions about how long it took them to notify students after the first shooting on April 16.

While an emergency text messaging system may help save lives during a violent situation, it will overwhelmingly be used for handling things like extreme weather alerts or other, non-criminal emergency situations. It is a particularly efficient way of reaching students during emergencies because students carry their cell phones all the time. This means that students who are in class or away from a computer when an incident occurs will see a message on their cell phone long before opening up an e-mail alert. From snow days to tornado warnings and fire alerts, an emergency text messaging system is of course, best suited for situations that have a clear cut plan of action.

However, emergency alert systems like those do not fully take into account how students will react in classes. Since administrators’ actions in emergency situations are only as good as the information they are receiving, especially during events that rapidly change like school shootings, incorrect directions could unknowingly lead students into harm’s way.

Therefore, in addition to the implementation of any new system, there must be an effort to publicize what to do in case of an emergency across campus. After all, it is very important that people know what to do so that panic is avoided. Instructors should be responsible for being familiar with appropriate response behaviors in the different buildings they teach in. They should be encouraged to remind students of what to do in case of an emergency so that chaos can be avoided.

There would also be a need for administrators to clarify for students what exactly constitutes an emergency so that a text messaging based alert system is not overused or abused by the University. Advertisements or normal announcements should still be within the realm of massmail.

No system is capable of being the end all and be all for informing students of emergencies on campus, but implementing text messaging is a good step to take. Still, this does not mean that the University should abandon other things like phone trees and massmail. The larger goal of having these systems in place is effective redundancy.

While redundancy will save lives, we must remember that the best way to avoid tragedy is to prevent it. In the meantime though, better safe than sorry.