In conjunction with “The Great Idaho ShakeOut” on Oct. 17, Boise State will test its emergency notification system BroncoAlert between 11:30 a.m.-noon Thursday. Text messaging, email, Twitter and Facebook channels all will be tested. Boisestate.edu also will display a BroncoAlert banner as part of the test.
The test will begin at about 11:45 a.m. with this message: “This is a test of the Boise State emergency notification system.” At about 11:59 a.m. an “all clear” message highlighting “The Great Idaho Shakeout” and additional campus safety resources will be sent through a second BroncoAlert.
Recently, the campus transitioned from an opt-in system, where students, faculty and staff had to opt-in with their mobile devices to receive text messaging, to an opt-out system, where all mobile devices in the Campus Solutions database are now uploaded to BroncoAlert.
“We were disappointed with the opt-in percentages prior to the change, where we had less than 40 percent of our students opted-in for text messaging,” said John Kaplan, associate vice president for the Department of Public Safety. “Now, with the transition to an opt-out protocol, we know more than 90 percent of the campus community will receive text messaging through BroncoAlert during a campus emergency, and text messaging is the quickest way to receive an emergency notification.”
Boise State is required by the federal Clery Act to “immediately notify the campus community upon confirmation of a significant emergency or dangerous situation occurring on campus that involves an immediate threat to the health or safety of students or employees.” Text messaging is the single, fastest way to provide notification during a large, emergency incident on campus, and the university uses BroncoAlert to do so. Boise State may send out emergency notifications about weather, fire, evacuation, shelter-in-place, and other threats and hazards determined to be critical campus emergencies.
If you have any issues receiving BroncoAlerts during the test, contact the Office of Emergency Management at (208) 426-4991 or email eoc@boisestate.edu for assistance with how to update your information in MyBoiseState.