At 10 a.m. on Sept. 25, more than 15,000 students and faculty received simultaneous text messages as part of the first test of the emergency notification system (ENS).
The $350,000 alert system immediately notifies students — via text messages, e-mails and on-screen messages on network desktops — of any campus incident or emergency.
More than 60 per cent of the school’s population signed up for the alerts, Boudreault said, noting the test’s mass text message “almost choked Rogers to death.”
After the initial bugs are worked out, the ENS will be expanded to include notifications on the televisions in the cafeterias and on wireless laptops on campus, Boudreault said.
The department plans to do another test of the system in January.
