The Nevada Sagebrush

The text message alert sent Friday, which totaled 157 characters, read:

FR:UNR
SUBJ:CAMPUS SAFETY ALERT
MSG:A campus safety alert has been sent to your e-mail account. Please refer to your e-mail for important safety information.

Click here to sign up for the text message alert system.

Click here for a PDF of the safety alert e-mail.

A man was shot and a student was pistol-whipped within blocks of campus at about 12:15 a.m. Friday after each was mugged in separate incidents. Five suspects in the alleged crimes remain at large and at least three were armed at the time of the muggings, police said.

Both victims were transported to local hospitals where they were treated for non-life-threatening injuries and released.

The next morning, eight hours later, 4,294 text message alerts were sent to students telling them to check their e-mail for safety information.

The use of the text messaging system was the first since its implementation a year ago. The system’s manufacturer recommends it be used as a way to alert students and faculty who may not have a way to immediately check more traditional means of communication but have their cell phones on them.

When the alert system was launched, police officials said it was not meant to replace existing alert systems, such as safety e-mails, but rather to add another way for students to get vital information.

Adam Garcia, UNRPD’s director, said the system is now being used to alert recipients of safety-alert e-mails when the texts are sent. The text message format is too short to include any meaningful information about an incident, he said.

Garcia said he made the decision to send an alert to students at 7 a.m. The alert came soon enough and contained enough information to be useful, Garcia said.

Text messages are limited to 160 characters. The one sent by UNRPD Friday included a 36-character heading Garcia said he did not know was included, followed by a short message telling students to check their e-mail for a safety alert.

Those 36 characters could have been freed up to include more information on the safety alert for students in the text message, Steven Zink, the vice president for information technology at UNR, said. The system used by the university to send text message alerts, e2Campus, allows for headings to be customized.

“I don’t really know why I got a text message aside from telling me to run for a bunker and get my computer,” Zink said.

The message would serve little purpose for students who do not receive e-mail on their cell phones, Zink said. The purpose of the system when it was originally implemented was to provide information to students who did not have immediate access to a computer, he said. Zink, who helped to bring the system to campus, said decisions to send text alerts and what to put in them are made by UNRPD without influence from his office.

Joe Teixeira, a 26-year-old criminal justice major, is not signed up for the alerts and said he probably wouldn’t if they only included instructions to check his e-mail.

“If you don’t get e-mail on your phone, you don’t really get anything from [the message],” he said.

The text message alert system used by UNR is meant to be able to give students the information they need without having to refer them to other places, Ara Bagdasarian, a spokesman for e2Campus, said.

“Typically, messages do contain more information than (check your e-mail),” Bagdasarian said. “It is up to each individual campus to figure out how they want to use the system, though.”

Bagadasarian said that because the technology to send mass text message alerts in conjunction with other alert methods is so new, many campuses are having difficulties figuring out how to use it effectively.

Jay Balagna can be reached at jbalagna@nevadasagebrush.com.

Related Posts:

• Two robbed, one shot near campus
• Gun safety would prevent wounds to animals
• TKE president’s murderer to serve three life sentences without parole
• Families plead for Taukitoku’s life
• Audio Slideshow: Luis Sedano-Felix’s memorial