Alert System

Stony Brook University faced a myriad of emotions today as it was announced that an armed perpetrator was on the academic mall, a space that spans the equivalent of about 2 ½ Manhattan city blocks. A series of alerts went out to students and staff as the day progressed, but the question of the day was “does the alert system truly help?”
Students received the first of the text messages at the 2:05 pm, about 30 minutes after the event occurred. Students and faculty alike were told to “Remain alert and follow directions of emergency personnel. Go to the Stony Brook website for updates.”
Except there were no updates on the website until 40 minutes after the initial text message, not that it would’ve mattered because the school’s website was flooded to the point that many people couldn’t access the alerts anyway.
Many students calling news stations such as News 12, the local news station of Long Island, had nothing but negative things to say about Stony Brook University’s security and the alert system, stating that they never received an alert and the messages that they did receive came to them in a round-about way.
“A friend of my boyfriend’s cousin who saw it on the news and called me to tell me what happened….I could’ve died,” said a caller to Long Island News 12. Mind you, no shots were fired an no one was injured.
Shirely Strum Kenny, President of Stony Brook University made it a point to note that the Alert system isn’t mandatory, though it is suggested that people sign up.
“On a campus this big we can make it mandatory. It’s not something we can do, but we hope after this that people will sign up. Sorta how you can’t shut down a city of 40,000 people – 23,000 students, 13,000 faculty and employees and 4,000 outside people on the campus at the time.”