UH’s Email Alert Fails the Efficiency Test; Students Themselves Reveal TM’s Weakness

Yesterday’s security alert at the University of Hawaii raises additional questions about the wisdom of relying on text messaging as the primary way to communicate with students and faculty in an emergency.

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Mid-Morning Update: CHORE wrote to Dr. Francisco Hernandez, UH Vice Chancellor for Students, and received this reply: "We are all concerned about the safety of our students, staff and faculty. I will bring your email to the attention of the officials on campus who have the responsibility of communicating with our campus during these types of situations."

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As reported in the Honolulu Advertiser and the Star-Bulletin, a student overheard a bus passenger talking to himself about shooting 30 students. UH officials sent an email to students and faculty urging caution.

Two-Hour Information Gap

Except for the email, there apparently was no system in place to warn the campus community about the would-be shooter. As reported in the Star-Bulletin, some email recipients “were shocked” to learn about the potential threat because they hadn’t checked their email for two hours. Said one student:

"I just got out of class. Oh no! He's planning to shoot 30 students on campus? Oh my goodness. Not too many people actually check their email."

“Not too many people actually check their email.” What more need be said about relying on text messaging to spread emergency alerts?

Low-Tech Solutions Needed

Does UH have a campus loudspeaker capability? We know it has a radio station. Was the alert broadcast over KTUH? What about the mass telephony capability that’s been touted? There’s no mention in the newspaper stories of the alert using any of these media.

Society’s love affair with personal technology is as hot as ever, yet each new emergency raises questions about relying on text messaging as the primary emergency communications channel. Even UH’s spokesman cited its current limitations:

"It's not clear that (cell phone carriers) have the ability to send out 10,000 or 15,000 text messages at the same instance."

Students and faculty can’t tolerate a two-hour delay in being informed about their potential peril. “Not too many people actually check their email.” That’s by a 22-year-old from the heart of the text-messaging generation!

Yesterday’s events revealed UH’s seriously flawed capability to inform the campus about emergencies. Rather than obsessively gather everyone's cell phone number, University planners need to perfect additional channels -- including low-tech loudspeakers and radio -- to alert their community.

PS: We have it on good authority (our wife, a UH student) that ALL of her instructors announce cell phones must be turned off during class. If students are observed text messaging, they're told to turn off the phone. Case closed.