The texting security system has recently been updated in order to ensure the safety of Hopkins students. The school is now offering Johns Hopkins Emergency Alerts (JHEA) through text messages when there is a threat to students’ safety on campus.
In case of an emergency, security will send a text message to everyone registered under the system so that students have information on what is happening. The alert also tells users where to access more information, usually on the University’s hot line or web site. Students can subscribe for alerts from any or all Hopkins campuses, including East Baltimore, Bayview, Peabody, SAIS, or Homewood.
Security has the ability to trigger the system and send out the text messages because they know of the emergencies first. “[To ensure efficiency, there are] prewritten messages that are set in advance. [This way,] security can fill in the information into a model message [and send out the message in a moment’s notice,” Dennis O’Shea, Executive Director of Communications and Public Affairs, said.
“All subscribers receive the same text alert message. There is no filtering of the information,” Edmund Skrodzi, Executive Director of Campus Safety and Security wrote in an email to The News-Letter. Additionally, by having a pre-set text, security offices need not worry about neither the 160-text character limit nor the clarity of their message.
Hopkins first developed a texting system of communication a few months after the Virginia Tech Massacre of April 16, 2007. “The question of communication and notification became a hot topic at colleges around the country, including Hopkins,” O’Shea said.
“The text messaging system has the greatest ability to reach more students, faculty and staff no matter their location at the time it is sent,” Skrodzki wrote. As a result, the text messaging system was activated on September 6, 2007.
“It was a joint effort of many people in the University’s administration across Johns Hopkins University (IT, Security, Communications, senior leadership, student life, human resources, etc.),” Dean Conley, Dean of Enrollment and Academic Services wrote in an email to The News-Letter about whose idea it was to implement the security text system. This system has been in use since then, but has not been a dominant part of Hopkins security. However, recently, the administration has tried to increase JHEA’s influence.
The September 16th shooting at Hopkins Hospital gave students and staff members quite a scare and encouraged the administration to look at subscription rates to JHEA. Hopkins wanted its students to be well informed of what’s wrong and how to react. “[There] were only a little over 3100 undergrad students in the schools of arts and sciences and engineering [registered with the program]”, O’Shea said.
While setting up the system, it became evident that not enough students were registered to receive emergency texts. “Given how many Homewood students are en route to or already present at other campuses (Mt. Vernon, East Baltimore) on any given day, it seemed prudent to have more students registered,” Conley wrote.
As a result, Homewood Student Affairs has encouraged every student with a cell phone to subscribe to JHEA. JHEA is an optional system because the school recognized that not all students had text messaging service or unlimited use, and it should not be a financial hardship. To incentivize students, Hopkins has made the signing up process very easy and accessible. “We are using the pre-registration process as a way to get the attention of students,” Conley wrote. Every time a student logs into ISIS to register for classes, a message pops up to remind him what JHEA is, how you should subscribe and why it is so important.
The administration hopes that this renewed effort will really help improve the security system on campus. Besides test messages, texts will only be sent out when there is an imminent threat to safety and health. “JHEA wants to provide actionable, useful information in a serious emergency [and will avoid] ‘crying wolf’ and creating unnecessary, excess anxiety,” Conley wrote.
However, despite his claim, some are still worried about the effects of mass texting. “Students might panic if they all receive a text at once and then aren’t able to learn more information because they are stuck in class,” freshman Ladora Cromwell said. Cromwell further elaborated that although she will register and be content with a text, she prefers to learn as much as possible.
“I would rather receive a detailed email than a 160 character text,” Cromwell said.
“[Getting a security email is] just as instantaneous, except much more informative.” Cromwell receives emails through her phone.
Slowly, registration for JHEA has increased. Before the pop ups started appearing on ISIS, about one-third of students in the schools of were registered. “153 students signed up within the first 12 hours of class registration”, O’Shea wrote. The numbers should keep climbing as more students register.
Freshman Jonah Garry, who was unaware of the system beforehand, signed up for JHEA when prompted on ISIS. “The texting system is a very valuable resource,” Garry said. “I’d rather be safe than sorry, so I appreciate the school’s effort to keep the student body well informed and safe.”
