Emergency Notification System alerts one of Pitt’s main security tools

With Wednesday’s announcement of the fifth and sixth bomb threats to take place…

With Wednesday’s announcement of the fifth and sixth bomb threats to take place on Pitt’s campus this semester, some students have grown accustomed to the buzz of Emergency Notification System texts in their pockets.

Freshmen Katelyn Witmer and Melissa Karl said that the most recent ENS alerts have caused them annoyance rather than worry.

“I feel a text in my pocket, and I think that it’s someone texting to talk to me, but then it’s just Pitt again,” Witmer said.

Pitt’s ENS alerts provide text messages, phone and email notifications to the community regarding emergencies that occur on campus. Subscribers can choose to receive the notifications by text, voice or email, or select a combination of the choices. The subscriber can enter up to three different phone numbers to receive notifications. And though some students receive the alerts later than others, Pitt officials said that all alerts are sent out at the same time.

Chief information officer and director of computing services Jinx Walton said in an email that the ENS was put in place in late August 2007, a few months after the fatal shooting at Virginia Tech. The system operates as one of the University’s security tools.

“With safety as the paramount concern, we needed a system that could deliver the message quickly, accurately and to multiple communication devices,” Walton said.

She said that when instituting a notification service, Pitt was interested in one that would send text messages to a constituency of students, faculty and staff.

“It had to be a system that could accommodate a diverse group of people who are constantly on the go; instructors could be teaching, in their office or off campus, while students could be anywhere as well, such as in a scheduled class, somewhere on campus or off or in their residence,” Walton said.

The system is in place in Oakland and across Pitt’s four branch campuses.

Walton said that the University’s emergency executive, Jerome Cochran, also the University’s executive vice chancellor and general counsel, is responsible for leading and coordinating emergency response efforts, including making the decision to send out an ENS notification.

“Once that decision is made, the message is actually launched through the ENS system by the University police,” she said.

Walton said that once the message has been entered into the system and launched, it’s delivered at one time to all subscribers. Any inconsistencies in between the receipt times of the messages are normal, as delivery time varies depending on coverage provided by an individual’s phone carrier.

Karl said that she usually receives the ENS text messages 15 minutes later than people around her.

“I think, ‘Oh great. What if this one was real?’ But I usually hear about it from the others anyway,” Karl said.

In the last month, 4,930 additional students, faculty and staff have subscribed to the ENS alerts, bringing the total subscription number to 37,478 as of March 25, according to figures provided by Pitt spokesman John Fedele.

Like Witmer and Karl, freshman Vikram Patwardhan was instructed to sign up for the notifications during freshman orientation.

“It’s actually useful, because [Wednesday] it was like monsooning outside when the Chevron threat was called, so I knew not to walk all of the way there,” Patwardhan said. “I can see why the bomb threats themselves are annoying, but the texts are useful.”

In an email sent to students last week, Vice Provost and Dean of Students Kathy Humphrey asked all to take the ENS messages seriously.

“First and foremost, I want to encourage you to continue to take any emergency notification seriously. Even though the recent threats have been false alarms, please continue to respect the seriousness of emergency notifications and follow any instructions you may receive,” Humphrey said. “Upon confirmation of an emergency situation that is an immediate threat to the well-being of our students and campus community — such as a bomb threat — we immediately evacuate the building and secure the area, and activate our Emergency Notification System (ENS) to inform students, parents, faculty and staff of the situation via phone, text messages and emails.”

Humphrey encouraged all who had not registered for the ENS to do so.

The University does not charge subscribers with a fee for the service, but standard messaging fees from mobile phone and device providers do apply.

Subscription instructions can be found on the Emergency Notification Service page in the Computing Services and System Development section of Pitt’s website. Students are directed to enter their contact information through the Emergency Notification Service link in their My Pitt portal.

Walton said that all notifications are launched at the same time, but that the text, phone and email notifications operate from different channels.

“Most people choose both text and phone,” Walton said.