Brett Nelson, Staff Writer

Students and faculty have been slow to sign up for PCC’s text message alert system. Of the 30,400 students enrolled in classes here, only 2,400 members of the college community have signed up for the program since it was adopted in October.

The system, designed to rapidly alert students to emergencies on campus, has gotten little attention from members of the PCC community, despite the shooting at Northern Illinois University and the massacre at Virginia Tech.

There was a campaign to educate people about the system, which included a news campaign through the Courier, letters to the faculty, flyers all over campus and was discussed during safety week.

“The interest just isn’t there,” said PCC Police Chief Peter Michael, who was concerned about the lack of participation.

Conferences were held to encourage students and faculty to sign up for the program during safety week.

However, only six students and seven members of the faculty showed up to the meetings, according to Michael.

Many students and faculty seem either to be uninformed or uninterested in the program. “I think that people around campus are just ignorant about [the program],” said Sophia Biggs, 23, a communications major. “I would sign up for it, I just don’t know how.”

“I don’t think that security is an issue. I don’t see a shooting going down here [at PCC],” said Alex Wall, 19. “Although, I’m sure they didn’t see it coming at Virginia Tech either.”

Administrators are encouraging instructors to participate in the program by discussing the importance of the program and walking students through the sign-up process. “We can’t force [instructors] to do anything in the classroom. When it comes to safety we would hope that everyone would want to be involved,” said Michael.

“[The text alert system] is something that I want to include in my classes. I think that it is necessary in light of recent events,” said Jennifer Garson, instructor at PCC. “I plan to include it as soon as possible.”

“I’d be more inclined to sign up for it if my professors talked about it,” said 19-year-old Dominique Maldonado, a communications major. “If I knew more about it, I would probably sign up for it.”
Administrators are considering expanding the program to inform students when their classes are canceled, according to Michael.

When asked about receiving texts about class cancellation, students lit up. “Texts about a class being canceled would be great! I hate driving here to find out that I have no class to go to,” said Wall.
Administrators are looking into ways to get people excited about the program. “We may raffle five to ten parking permits to entice people to sign up,” said Michael.

To sign-up:

1. Text PCC to 253788 (AlertU)
2. Reply Y to the confirmation text

or

1. Go to http://www.alertu.org/pcc
2. Input your phone number and email
3. Reply Y to the confirmation text

*Texts will only be sent in case of an emergency/crisis
*The service is free, though standard text rates will apply
*You will never receive spam or advertisements

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