The Daily Bulletin Archive

As concern for safety on college campuses across the country continues to grow, Buffalo State’s Emergency Communication Task Force has completed a major overhaul of its Emergency Communication Plan and continues to seek new ways to keep students, faculty, and staff informed in the event of a crisis.

“We utilized a communication plan before Virginia Tech that was based on common sense,” said Pete Carey, chief of university police. “Although we were ahead of the game at the time in terms of emergency planning, we are in a much better place now thanks to the work of the Communication Task Force.”

The Emergency Communication Plan, which was distributed to members of the senior administration over the summer, now clearly lays out internal communication flow and policies during a crisis, policies and templates for internal and external messages, and step-by-step guides for communication tools.

Communication Flow and Policies
The offices of Finance and Management and College Relations manage emergency notification in the event of a crisis, which is defined as any incident where the physical or mental health and safety of any campus constituent is, or could be, at risk.

Because each crisis or emergency requires a unique communication response, the Emergency Communication Plan provides guiding policies and procedures for the coordination of internal and external communication in the event of a crisis—including natural disasters, a large-scale act of violence or terrorism, fire, death on campus, physical or sexual assault, environmental disaster, or utility failure.

The general communication flow and distribution are as follows:

• Vice President for Finance and Management’s Office, working with University Police, determines that a crisis or emergency exists and the level of threat
• President’s Office and appropriate departments (Provost, Student Affairs, Institutional Advancement) are informed and involved as needed
• College Relations, working with Finance and Management, develops and implements communication strategy, including message points, delivery vehicles, coordination with internal and external constituencies, and timing

“The goal during any crisis or emergency is to provide quick, accurate, sensitive, and responsible communication that safeguards our students, faculty, and staff,” said Stanley Kardonsky, vice president for finance and management.

NY-Alert
While communication systems such as campuswide e-mail, the Web site, posters, faculty and staff voice mail, and residence hall word-of-mouth were already in place prior to the formation of the task force, instant communication via cell phone was an emerging technology not yet formalized.

Last fall, the college signed up for a new emergency notification system—NY-Alert. Administered by the New York State Emergency Management Office (SEMO), NY-Alert is a voluntary system that delivers text messages, automated phone messages, e-mails, and faxes to participants when there is an immediate or severe threat to the physical health and safety of campus constituents. The system is also designed to inform the campus community of campus closings due to weather or major utility failures.

Less than a year after the launch of NY-Alert, the Buffalo State student opt-in rate via BANNER has climbed well above the national average, to 65 percent. According to a recent story by the Associated Press, student-participation rates at colleges and universities with similar programs range from 25 to 40 percent.

While student opt-in rates continue to rise, the number of faculty and staff enrolling in the system has remained steady. Carey encourages faculty and staff to sign up as soon as possible and emphasizes that personal information provided during registration is not public and will never be sold or used for any other purpose.

“Not only is signing up important for your own personal safety, but as a professor or staff member, you have a responsibility of communicating with students in an emergency as well,” said Carey.

College Relations will conduct a campuswide test of NY-Alert at 12:30 p.m. Tuesday, October 21. At this time, all students, faculty, and staff who have signed up will receive the test message through their selected communication devices.

Other Tools
During the Emergency Response Training drill last month in Cassety Hall, the College Relations Web team tested the college’s emergency Web page. In the event of an emergency, the standard home page will be exchanged with a streamlined site that provides brief, time-stamped news entries and safety instructions. With few graphics and no database pulls, the simplified page reduces stress to the server in the event of a sudden spike in Web traffic. This ensures that the site stays up and that critical information can be updated.

The college also has planned for extreme server disruptions, such as those experienced during the October 2006 storm, by partnering with Alfred State College for emergency server space.

The task force continues to investigate options for visible and audible alarms. According to Carey, a steam whistle that would be heard throughout campus is scheduled for installation later this semester. Visible message displays and voice enunciators via an upgraded fire alarm system are also being investigated by the task force.