Students can feel safer on campus this semester with the University’s new emergency alert system, which includes three new sirens. The safety measure cost the University more than $58,000 to purchase the sirens from EMCO Technologies of Baton Rouge.

“It’s to use in the case of emergency for tornadoes approaching the campus, fires or should there be any type of shooting incident,” Mike Davis, the assistant vice president for administration, said. “This would be another means the University would use to notify the students, faculty and staff of an emergency.”

The sirens can be heard as far as E.D. White High School and in nearby subdivisions due to their various locations on campus–across from the cafeteria, in the new residence halls and behind the Student Publication and University Printing building. They also have prerecorded messages and public address capabilities.

During a test-run in June, however, University personnel found that wind direction and speed could cause the prerecorded messages to be heard better in some locations than in others. Additionally, the sound doesn’t penetrate into the innermost part of some buildings, Davis said.

In the event that the siren system is ineffective, the University does have other means of notification. University personnel are working to add eight new call boxes to the 35 already installed on campus, as well as fire alarms in the new buildings and residence halls. These calls boxes and fire alarms will also have public address capabilities, Davis said.

Text messaging notification was instituted last year to alert students and faculty of problems on campus.

Davis said in the event that the entire emergency alert system would fail, the University would rely on University personnel to inform people of a crisis. He said that if such an incident occurs, the system would most likely be up and working again by the following day.

“This is just one more step the University has taken to better prepare the University in the event that an incident takes place, whether it’s weather-related, fire-related or an incident generated by an individual,” Davis said. “And we will continue to look for those types of things that will keep this campus a safe campus.