Colleges and universities around the country, ever more mindful of campus safety, are installing outdoor sirens. The systems can blast spoken messages or tone alerts of danger—and one of the preset messages on many of the public-address systems warns: "There is a shooter on campus. Seek shelter immediately."
At many campuses, officials decided to install outdoor public-address systems as they've reviewed their emergency-notification strategies in the wake of the deadly shootings at Virginia Tech last spring. That tragedy, in which a student killed 32 people before committing suicide, led many administrators to imagine how they would communicate with their diverse mix of students, professors, and staff members if a similar tragedy took place on their campuses.
One popular answer has been to install complicated digital systems that beam text messages, e-mails, or instant messages to thousands of registered users. But many officials have come to realize that not everyone on campus would be at a computer or a cellphone at any given time.
Students may be playing Frisbee on the quad or listening intently in class with their laptops closed and their cellphones set to silent. "Then you have athletes," said Richard W. Schneider, president of Norwich University. "You're not carrying your BlackBerry when you're playing football."
Many colleges have decided that the old-fashioned approach of using sirens should be part of the mix of emergency-response technologies. Companies originally designed the high-powered systems to be used on military bases or industrial plants where hazardous spills were possible.
'You Can Hear It Anywhere'
At least a dozen campuses have installed sirens or announced plans to do so in the past year. The systems are expensive, often costing more than $100,000 to purchase and set up. Still, "it's pretty prevalent out there," says Mark S. Katsouros, director of telecommunication and network services at the University of Iowa, who has spoken at recent conferences about emergency-notification strategies. "Many of the peers I've talked to are at least looking at similar systems." (Iowa installed one over the summer.)
Norwich, for instance, tested its new siren system just last month. "That sucker is unbelievable," said Mr. Schneider. "We have 1,200 acres, and you can hear it anywhere you're standing on campus."
Virginia Tech actually had a siren system installed on the campus before the shootings there took place, but it had been thought of only as a tool for weather alerts.
Now the outdoor alarm is considered part of a broader emergency-response system, says Mark Owczarski, director of news and information at the university. "The notion of using a weather-alert system for what occurred here may not have been on the forefront of our minds" before the shootings, he said. "But clearly we live in a different world today."
It can take several tests and adjustments to make sure the sound carries clearly over as much of the campus as possible. Virginia Tech has tested its siren system several times in the past year, including one trial run just last week. As a result of such tests, officials decided to add other speaker locations—bringing the total number on campus to six—"to hit spots that were not as audible," said Mr. Owczarski.
"One of the key things is reaching people that are out in the ag fields, who wouldn't be in front of a computer or a television set," he added.
Washington State University had already decided to install a siren system before the Virginia Tech shootings, but that incident led officials to accelerate their plans, said Chris Tapfer, emergency-management coordinator. Crews finished installing five speaker towers last August, at a cost of about $150,000.
A Message for Every Scenario
The spoken messages must be crafted carefully so they are clear and direct, many officials say. In most cases, the messages tell listeners to log on to the campus Web site or call the telephone hotline for more information.
Planning for emergency response involves imagining morbid scenarios, as officials craft prerecorded messages or write scripts that could be used in the event of an emergency.
"You name it, we've got a scenario for it," said Mr. Katsouros, of Iowa. "Active shooter, bomb threat, hazardous-materials spill—we've got these canned messages."
The siren system can be installed quickly and more easily than setting up a text-messaging alert system, which requires collecting cellphone numbers from students, said David Irvin, associate vice president of plant operations at the University of Houston. The university made a decision in December to set up a siren system, and it expects the devices to be up and running by May.
"Because it's such a low-tech solution, it's very easy," said Mr. Irvin.
