Students, faculty, staff and parents can now sign up for text message emergency alerts for all of D.C. and American Univerity, according to a press release sent out by Student Government Chief of Staff Joe Pavel.
Public Safety and SG decided to implement the program in response to the Virginia Tech massacre, according to SG President Joe Vidulich. The emergency preparedness system, called AlertDC, can send alerts to e-mail or cell phones.
"It's a great program because students get first-hand information about what's happening," Vidulich said. "We are one of the few schools in the nation that have actually implemented such a program."
Michael McNair, director of Public Safety, said the program would be used to warn students of situations similar to the one at Virginia Tech, as well as severe weather emergencies.
"Text messaging is the fastest and most effective way to get to the audience we want," McNair said.
Public Safety hopes to get 90 percent of the AU community signed up for the program, McNair said.
Those who wish to sign up for the program can do so at preparedness.american.edu. Sara Rigdon, a sophomore in the School of International Service, said she didn't think the program would be very useful to her.
"I won't ever really be able to utilize this new method because I do not get service in my dorm room," she said.
Editor's Note: Joe Vidulich was incorrectly identified as Joe Pavel in the print edition.
