MSU’s emergency text messaging system was enacted for the first time Thursday when five messages were dispatched to nearly 13,000 subscribers during severe weather.
Less than 200 subscribers, or 1.5 percent of all recipients, did not receive text messages, MSU police Sgt. Florene McGlothian-Taylor said.
“We had only about 190 failures, but I think the key to that is that the delivery is dependent on their wireless service,” McGlothian-Taylor said. “Out of the more than 12,900 messages that were sent, we can’t guarantee the delivery because of wireless service providers.”
The texts were the first since the program’s inception at the beginning of the semester. The program is designed to notify subscribers of all emergency situations on campus.
McGlothian-Taylor said that although many students haven’t signed up for the service and some didn’t receive text messages Thursday, word-of-mouth can help spread emergency news.
“What we were expecting is that if one person receives the message and someone else didn’t receive that or sign up, that they would share that,” she said. “I would say (Thursday) was a success because even if one person receives it, then they can pass the word.”
Human biology senior Kim Jackson said she subscribed her cell phone as well as her younger sister’s to the service after receiving an e-mail at the beginning of the year but didn’t see any messages from MSU in her inbox Thursday night.
“After I heard that other people had been getting them, I kind of wondered why I wasn’t,” Jackson said.
She added that she had been receiving phone calls and had good cell phone service at the time.
“I’m not really worried because this was the first instance, but we have to take our own responsibility and we have to watch the news and be aware since we’re not dependent on the text messages yet,” Jackson said.
Global and area studies freshman Garrek Stemo was returning to his Hubbard Hall dorm room when he received the first text message, notifying him to go straight to the dorm’s basement when he arrived.
“The system was pretty good,” Stemo said. “I thought it was a good idea with the tornado warning because if everyone signs up, it’s an instant way to communicate with everyone.”
McGlothian-Taylor said MSU police are encouraging subscribers to submit feedback about their experiences with the text message system on their Web site, www.police.msu.edu.
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