NEWS RELEASE
Contact: David West (west@nsula.edu)
News Bureau
Northwestern State University
Natchitoches, LA 71497
(318) 357-6466
3/19/2008
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
NATCHITOCHES - Northwestern State University has adopted “Purple Alert,” a new emergency alert system providing notification by text messaging, e-mail and calls to campus landlines.
The system is operated by FirstCall Interactive Systems of Baton Rouge.
NSU students, faculty and staff can sign up for Purple Alert for free by going to http://www.nsula.edu/purplealert, and the system is quickly catching on. More than 2,000 students have signed up for the service in its first two weeks of operation.
Savannah Cholvitee, a sophomore pre-med major and Natchitoches native, has already signed up for the system, which she said was easy and took about 20 seconds. Cholvitee is not the only student who expects (great things) from this new system.
“It’s a great idea,” said Stephanie LaGrone, sophomore scientific inquiry major from Dallas, Texas. “It seems like it would be much safer, because I don’t always check my e-mail.”
Students find the text messaging aspect convenient, because most people have cell phones and check them often.
“I always have my cell phone on me all the time,” said Cholvitee, who text messages all the time.
Not everyone pays attention to cell phones during class, though, and freshman Corey Chacheres falls into that category.
Although he does not check his phone for messages during class, he knows that some people do, and “if everyone has a phone then someone’s bound to notice even in class.”
NSU is trying to get the word out to students, faculty and staff about the system, and students are noticing.
“I think it was a really good idea for them to make it a requirement to see the Purple Alert symbol before being able to log into ‘myNSU,’” said Robin Williams, a senior liberal arts major from Sulphur.
The university has also used e-mail to get students’ attention. Williams signed up for Purple Alert when she received an e-mail from Northwestern President Dr. Randall J. Webb about the system.
Those wishing to sign up simply enter their cell phone numbers, primary and secondary e-mail addresses and secondary phone numbers for notification.
All four NSU campuses in Natchitoches, Shreveport, Alexandria and Leesville/Fort Polk are covered. The system was initiated by the State Board of Regents and supported by the University of Louisiana System.
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