CAMPUS
NEWS
RAVE / Thousands were sent announcements about a homicide investigation at SAC that closed campus, but not everyone received a message.
ALERT SYSTEM FAILS TO NOTIFY ALL
District offi cials worry that students and employees are not updating their contact information
Words by Marta Konarska · Photos by Lesly Guzman
When the campus was
closed last Monday while
police conducted a homicide
investigation, more than 32,000
people were sent alerts through
the district’s emergency
notifi cation system. But district
offi cials say that not everyone
received them and are urging
campus community to double
check if their correct information
is on fi le with the school.
RAVE Mobile Safety is a mass
notifi cation system that sends
text messages and emails to
cell phone numbers and email
addresses pulled directly from
WebAdvisor. All current active
students, faculty and staff are
automatically enrolled to receive
RAVE alerts.
However, at about 8 a.m. on
the morning of the incident,
several students showed up for
their classes unaware that the
campus was closed and classes
were canceled. Some said they
did not get any text alert and did
not know to check their email.
Phuong Nguyen was about
to go to her Monday classes
when a friend called to say that
the campus is closed. She was
surprised by the news since she
didn’t receive a text message
and didn’t think about checking
her email before class.
“I believe it is better to be
notifi ed by text message
because I don’t check my email
that often,” Nguyen said. “Some
people don’t have Wi-Fi or their
mobile data is slow, so they can’t
even check if they got anything.
There is no such problem with
messages.”
After returning to campus on
Sept. 17, faculty and students
also reported that they got only
one form of notifi cation. Some
saw emergency emails but
never got text messages, while
others didn’t receive anything
even though they said their info
on WebAdvisor is up-to-date.
According to Interim Chief
of District Safety and Security
Michael Toledo, people are not
receiving text alerts because
they did not provide the correct
cell phone number upon
registering online. Toledo said
that some may have accidentally
put their home number as a
mobile number, which would
also prevent the alert from
going through.
“Rave Alert is our [security]
mass notifi cation system we
rely on. That is the number one
alert if a major incident happens,”
Toledo said. “This is the quickest
way we can communicate to
students what happened on the
campus.”
RECEIVE ALERTS
There are two kinds of notifi cations for
the RAVE Alert system: text messaging
and email. Both contact information is
derived from the WebAdvisor.
WEBADVISOR
Under user account, click into “Change
Contact Information.” Verify the phone
number as your CELL number. From
there you will automatically be enrolled
for RAVE Alert texts.
OPT-IN
On a cell phone, text “DonsAlert” to any
of the following codes: 226787, 67283,
78015, 81437 or 22911.
Once you receive the “Welcome to
Dons Alert” message, your alerts are on.
el Don Santa Ana College · September 2019
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