Belmont Campus Security installed a new alert system called Rave Mobile Safety, an emergency mass notification provider, for the start of the 2018-2019 school year.
“We felt like this was the best one for Belmont,” said Chief of Campus Security Pat Cunningham. “Rave is more robust than the system Belmont used previously. There are many more people with access and the ability to send out messages so that alerts are sent in a timely fashion.”
Rave also offers additional layers of redundancy. There is a training mode so that security staff can practice and become more familiar with sending out messages, Cunningham said.
“We really want to take those extra steps to make sure we’re comfortable with the system and with launching messages,” he said.
Though all students, faculty and staff are automatically signed up for alerts that go to their Belmont email addresses, people can also can enter up to three different cell phone numbers and emails to be notified when an alert is sent out, according to the Belmont News & Media website.
Campus Security alerts can include anything from severe weather to suspicious activity that occurs in close proximity to campus.
“Anytime we send out a message we want it to be timely, accurate, useful,” Cunningham said.
Though Campus Security does its best to inform students of all important information, students should also have a plan for what to do when alerts are received, he said.
“Have a personal plan for whether you are in your residence hall or classroom. The more we can do to have that preparedness mindset in advance, the more successful people will be in having a good outcome.”
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This article written by Marissa Avnaim