An Emergency Alerts channel has been added to iCampus over the summer. Emergency notifications will be sent to members of Illinois State University any time an event threatens the life or safety of those on campus. For example, an emergency notification would be sent in the event of a shooting or other violent criminal activity on campus.

Using the Emergency Alerts channel in iCampus, members of the University can review and update their contact information. Members can specify a mobile phone number, which can be used for both voice and text alerts. Students and staff can also specify a secondary phone number at which they would like to be contacted. For example, faculty and staff can enter an office phone number, and students can specify another home (land line) phone number. Members can also provide an alternate email address to be used in addition to the standard ilstu.edu email address.

Emergency alerts are sent by an emergency notification vendor with which the University has partnered. The Emergency Alerts channel in iCampus is used only to collect phone numbers and email addresses at which members of Illinois State wish to receive the notifications. This service is expected to be available during the summer of 2009.

The decision to notify campus about threatening emergencies is part of a larger initiative to provide greater security on campus. For more information, visit http://www.ilstu.edu/home/security/.