Septembre Russell
Copy editor

An emergency can be devastating, and it is necessary for colleges to remain prepared should an urgent situation arise. For that reason, the college has purchased a system for emergency notification titled Connect-Ed from Blackboard.
“Linfield purchased the software to enhance notification ability for the community for students, faculty and staff,” Bill Curtin, interim campus safety director, said.
Students involved in the incident on the Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University campus April 16, 2007, were unable to receive information about the events that took place, Curtin said.
The emergency notification software includes a database that will contain contact information from students such as their campus e-mail, non-campus e-mail and cellular phone number, among other data, to ensure connectivity throughout the entire campus community in the event of an emergency.
The contact information will be entered into the database during fall registration, Curtin said, and he added that students are not obligated to provide information. Students may opt out if they choose to and update their information using the Blackboard system.
The Department of Education has new rules in place for colleges and universities that require public safety officials to inform students of the types of notification systems that are employed for students’ safety, Curtin said.
Sophomores Arielle Perkins and Casey Kave agreed that the concept of a campus-wide notification system is ideal. A college campus can never be overly cautious, Perkins said. The system is one all colleges should invest in, she said.
“It’s a real upgrade from a public safety point of view,” Curtin said. “We didn’t really have anything; most colleges didn’t.”
There will be a period of testing, Curtain said, to gauge the Connect-Ed program’s compatibility with the college’s computer server and other existing systems.
“If we don’t have any problems, [the testing period] can be pretty short,” he said. “We want to make sure that there is going to be a synch so it’s going to be easy to deal with.”