Tulane University is moving to a new campus emergency notification system, changing from previous provider, Rave Alert, to Everbridge. Everbridge offers a suite of safety alert systems for a number of verticals including higher education, with campus deployments at a number of universities including UCLA and Rochester Institute of Technology.
According to an official university release, Tulane will transition to the new alert system — which is designed to keep the campus community safe and informed during emergency or crisis situations — this week. Donald Veals, Tulane’s emergency and preparedness response manager, says that all students, faculty and staff will be automatically enrolled in the system.
When an emergency or threat is identified, the university’s emergency preparedness and response team can use Everbridge to send out pertinent information to the Tulane community using the mass notification capability within the Everbridge system and recommend the best course of action.
Notifications will be sent via phone call, text message and email, and Tulane is encouraging all Students, faculty and staff to download the free Everbridge mobile app in order to receive the emergency push alerts directly to their mobile devices.
Similar to other safety app offerings, Everbridge also enables students to send check-in notifications to campus security if they are in vulnerable situations, such as walking alone across campus late at night. If a student does not send the check-in notification at the prescribed interval time it takes to get to their destination, the Tulane Police Department will be dispatched to the student’s last known location to ensure their safety.
The app also features a panic button that sends an SOS request to the Tulane University Police Department.
An email will be sent to the Tulane campus community including instructions on how to download the Everbridge app via single sign-on. Once logged in to the app, it’s recommended that users allow push notifications to ensure they receive the emergency messages.
