Campus Alerting system goes live

At Monday’s convocation, Liberty University’s Chief of Police Richard Hinkley announced Liberty’s Campus Alerting system is now live.

Hinkley said following the events on the campus of Virginia Tech in April 2007, Dr. Jerry Falwell, Sr. saw an immediate need for an emergency notification system to alert the students and staff of Liberty’s campus.

“By that fall we saw a part of that vision come true, even after his death, when the outdoor siren system went live,” Hinkley said. “The big part that’s been missing however was some type of direct message to each and every student.”

Hinkley said in conjunction with Federal Signal Codespear, this free system allows students, staff and faculty to receive immediate notification of any emergency situation that occurs on campus. Messages can be sent to cell phones, home phones, work phones or email addresses.

To receive notification, faculty, staff and students can sign up an email address or phone number on the Liberty University Campus Alerting website. Liberty user IDs and passwords will grant access to the site.

Specific notification for emergency road closures, fires, school closings and severe weather are also available.

“We really want to see this system in place and working well so that all the students can get those notifications,” Hinkley said.