Text alert system will be tested Wednesday, Feb. 11

The start of the new year provides an ideal opportunity to remind campus community members that Oakland University uses cellular text message alerts to notify students, faculty and staff of emergency situations, as well as when the University will close due to severe weather conditions or when a campus snow emergency has been declared.

The University’s text alert system allows police and communications personnel to rapidly distribute information necessary to protect health, safety and welfare. All currently enrolled students and active employees who haven’t already registered for this free service are strongly encouraged to do so.

An online registration form is available at oakland.edu/prepared. Visitors will need their OU email address and Grizzly ID to register.

Individuals new to the University or who may have not known about text message alerts will soon have an opportunity to find out firsthand how the alert system works.

Those who register to receive alerts can rest assured that they’ll never be bothered with unnecessary distractions. Outside of system tests conducted once each semester, alerts are broadcast only when it is determined that there is an imminent threat of danger to people on campus, or in the event of a University closure, campus-wide cancellation of classes or snow emergency.

The winter 2015 text alert system test is scheduled to take place at roughly 1 p.m. on Wednesday, Feb. 11. Those interested in registering for the service and receiving a test emergency text alert should sign up at least 24 hours in advance of the test to allow for account activation.

Former system users who have not had an active oakland.edu e-mail account for more than 12 months must re-register to renew their subscription, and any user who has obtained a new cell phone number since registering for text alerts will need to update their account by logging into the registration link provided above.

Campus community members registered to receive text alerts who do not receive the Wednesday, Feb. 11 test alert should review their registration form information online to ensure that account contact information is current and correct. If the contact information is correct, system users who did not receive the test alert should send a notification of the problem to helpdesk@oupolice.com.

Complete information on OU’s emergency preparedness and communication plans – which cover university closings, tornado warnings, psychological emergencies, lock downs, evacuations, bomb threats, hazardous material incidents and more – are available online at the Emergency Preparedness website.