Emergency Notification System Designed for Added Safety On-Campus
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A new Emergency Notification System is in place to more successfully reach students, faculty, and staff during an emergency on the USC – Columbia campus. Under this new system, text and voice messages will be sent to the cell phone numbers provided by students, faculty, and staff through VIP, as well as to e-mail addresses, and land-line numbers. The system was installed as part of ongoing efforts to improve safety measures on campus.
Cell phone numbers have not been previously requested by the University, but now offer the most immediate and reliable way of distributing time-sensitive information that can be received instantly by a large group of people. The system will be used only for alerting the University community to emergency situations.
University Police Chief Ernie Ellis says 100 percent participation is needed. "A life-saving system of this nature is only effective if you use it. As everyone prepares for the fall semester, we should take time to review safety and emergency procedures for University offices, laboratories, classrooms, residence halls and recreational facilities."
Until an appropriate percentage of the campus has registered through VIP, the University's communication and technology teams will supplement the new Emergency Notification System by notifying the campus community about emergency situations through the use of existing telephone and e-mail systems, and USC websites, including http://www.sc.edu and http://www.sc.edu/emergency as well as local news media.
Emergency teams will soon be looking into incorporating regional and senior USC campuses into this new emergency notification system.
For questions or to get more information, please visit http://www.sc.edu/emergency or call the University Technology Services Help Desk at 803.777.1800.
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