Torrential rains and wind on Oct. 25 left many students surprised when classes were canceled after the storm caused major power outages on campus. However, some students did not receive the message because they were not signed up for ETSU’s GoldAlert text-messaging system.There are currently 7,870 students, faculty and staff signed up for the system. But with more than 15,000 students, there are still thousands of students who are not receiving the service.

Many students think that e-mail is a sufficient means of notification. However, as with the case of Oct. 25, students relying on e-mail notification did not know that classes had been canceled.

“Students did not receive e-mails on that day because servers were down,” said Dan O’Brien, director of environmental health and safety. “Text is the one that we recommend because you won’t have any server issues that you have with e-mails, plus you don’t get the time lag.”

Director of Media Relations Joe Smith echoed O’Brien’s statements.

“Students really need to sign up for the text messaging service to ensure that they get important messages from the university,” Smith said.

Despite efforts to promote the service, some students are not aware that it exists. “I was a transfer student last year and I’m not sure I really even know what GoldAlert is,” Lauren Hopson, a senior, said. “I don’t remember hearing about it at orientation.”

According to O’Brien, the university is working toward educating more students about the service.

“We’re trying to get as many people signed up for it as possible,” O’Brien said. “We put all the posters and advertising out there, in the East Tennessean. It’s still hard to get people to sign up. And, when an event like that happens, they realize it would be good if they knew what was going on.”

Students that are signed up for the alert system said they find it to be useful.

“It was very helpful on the day that the power went out on campus because it made me aware that classes were canceled,” Kayla Gass, a sophomore, said. “I wouldn’t have known about it otherwise because I never received an e-mail from school. I think that all students should sign up for GoldAlert to be aware of emergencies on campus.”

More than 1,000 students have signed up for GoldAlert since Oct. 25, with 95 signing up in the past seven days alone. “There is always a spike in registration after something like the power outages happens,” O’Brien said.

O’Brien also stressed that student need not worry about their personal information being used for anything other than the emergency messaging system.

“It’s only used for emergency purposes and nothing else,” said O’Brien. “We’re really clear about that, the information is all confidential. “

Students who wish to sign up for GoldAlert can do so at www.etsu.edu/safety.

Click on the Emergency Messaging System link, and then register.

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