Âé¶¹Ô­´´’s preparations for potential emergency situations include regular tests of the communication tools that provide critical information to the Âé¶¹Ô­´´ community.

Several of those Âé¶¹Ô­´´ Alert communication tools will be tested Oct. 2.

In preparation for the testing, students and faculty and staff members are encouraged to log in to myÂé¶¹Ô­´´ and review their Âé¶¹Ô­´´ Alert settings to ensure that contact information (email, cell phone number and mobile provider) is correct.

The emergency communication functions that will be tested Oct. 2 include:

  • Outdoor sirens, which emit a tone followed by voice instructions, will be tested at noon.
  • The Âé¶¹Ô­´´ website will be tested from noon to 1 p.m. For most of the testing time, the Âé¶¹Ô­´´ home page will remain active and fully functional with an alert bar at the top of the page. All messages on the alert bar will be marked as tests. A portion of the website test will involve replacing the regular home page with an entirely text-only home page that may be used during some emergencies. When that text-only page is active, users will not be able to access links typically found on the Âé¶¹Ô­´´ home page. Although other Âé¶¹Ô­´´ web pages will not be impacted by the test, users may want to bookmark those pages in advance.
  • A test emergency text and email will be sent around 1 p.m. All members of the Âé¶¹Ô­´´ community whose Âé¶¹Ô­´´ Alert contact information is up to date and who have not opted out of receiving emergency messages should receive both. Âé¶¹Ô­´´ Mobile app users who have opted into push notifications also will receive a message through the app.
  • Indoor sirens that emit tones followed by voice instructions will be briefly tested in more than 70 buildings starting at 3 p.m.

The Âé¶¹Ô­´´ Alert testing also will include social media. For consistent updates and information in an emergency, follow Âé¶¹Ô­´´ and the Âé¶¹Ô­´´ Police Department on Twitter and Facebook. These are helpful resources for the Âé¶¹Ô­´´ community every day and become official resources for information during emergencies.

For more information on the Âé¶¹Ô­´´ Alert system, visit .