December 14, 2007
LSU's Emergency-Notification System Malfunctioned
Just hours after two graduate students at Louisiana State University were shot to death Thursday night in a campus apartment building, LSU officials used their new emergency-notification system to send text messages to about 8,400 students who had signed up for the service. Because of a technical glitch, however, an undetermined number of those messages never arrived.
“Some folks who are part of that system did not receive a notification by that particular means,” said Sean C. O’Keefe, the chancellor, at a Webcast news conference on Friday morning. “We notified and consulted with the provider of that particular service at about 2 o’clock this morning and worked through a series of issues there. There are some technical challenges that they obviously encountered.”
LSU officials did not know how many of the registered users failed to receive the message, Mr. O’Keefe said. But he noted that the university also sent e-mail notifications to everyone with a campus e-mail address, as well as voice-mail messages to those who had signed up for that. Additionally, officials went door-to-door notifying residents of the apartment complex, which is reserved for graduate students and married students.
Stuart Watkins, a sophomore who is a member of the student government, said in an interview today that he had never received the emergency text message, despite having signed up for the service. He added that after asking around, “I haven’t spoken to anyone who did receive the text message.”
“They did a big thing trying to get as many students as they could to sign up for it” in the spring, when the service was introduced, said Mr. Watkins. “This is a safety precaution that LSU was taking, and it didn’t work.”
Brian Nichols, chief IT-security and policy officer at the university, declined to answer questions about the emergency-notification service, referring a reporter to the public-relations office. An official there also declined to elaborate.
An announcement on LSU’s Web site notes that the service is provided by ClearTXT. Officials of that company did not return calls for comment. —Jeffrey R. Young
Posted on Friday December 14, 2007 | Permalink |Comments
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So Sean O’Keefe delivers a bland, bureaucratic response of the type he learned at the OMB and NASA — thank God President Kennedy didn’t launch the moon program with that kind of rousing rhetoric — while the head of IT-security won’t even talk about anything other than, perhaps, LSU football. GEAUX TIGERS!
Far better to say, after expressing condolences to the family and friends of the murdered students, something like: “Following our emergency procedures, we contacted everyone who has an lsu.edu email address — in other words, essentially everyone associated with the university. We also decided to use targeted phone calls and door-to-door notifications. All this was very effective in getting the word out fast. On the other hand, we learned that our new text-messaging system isn’t ready for prime time. We’ve got the ClearTXT people working on that, and I want answers quickly.” O’Keefe did provide most of that information, but, if the Chronicle report is accurate, his manner was so weak and ineffective that he failed to inspire confidence in his leadership.
Incidentally, I made up that preferred official statement by imagining what the new system president, tough-guy John Lombardi, might have said. I’d love to hear what he actually does say privately to LSU officials.
— S. Britchky Dec 15, 04:02 AM #
What are some early warning signs of potential violent youth? Being aware of these might provide valuable insights into why shootings and other horrible acts happen on college and university campuses. University officials should be aware of some of the potential warning signs of violence among colleges students such as are listed below:
1. Social withdrawal;
2. Execessive feelings of isolation and being along;
3. Excessive feelings of rejection;
4. Being a victim of violence;
5. Feelings of being picked on and persecuted;
6. Low School interest and poor academic performance;
7. Expression of violence in writings and drawings;
8. Uncontrolled anger;
9. Patterns of impulsive and chronic hitting, intimidating, and bullying behaviors;
10. History of discipline problems;
11. Past history of violent and aggressive behaviors;
12. Intolerance for differences and prejudicial attitudes;
13. Drug and alcohol use;
14. Affiliation with gangs or unproductive groups;
15. Inappropriate access to, possession of, and use of firearms;
16. Serious threats of violence.
Source: Dwyer, K., Osher, D., & Waarger, C. (1998). Early warning, timely response: A guide to a safe school. Washington, DC: U.S. Department of Education. Adapted.
University officials should take the time to observe and listen to students with serious concerns about fellow students exhibiting signs of violent behaviors.
William Allan Kritsonis, PhD
— Dr. William Allan Kritsonis Dec 15, 10:57 AM #
William Allan Kritsonis, PhD, what the hell are you talking about?
Those grad students were murdered by “locals” because the grad student housing was built next to a ghetto and there was no security guard.
How is your cheesy list going to prevent what happened at LSU or U of C?
— joe Dec 15, 12:02 PM #
The reason the messages failed is because they are sending messages on a SMTP gateway. This is a free gaetway that anyone can use, and when you send out that many messages they will most likely get stopped by SPAM filters. The university is cutting corners here to save money. If you need to send critical messages dont go with a SMTP provider.
— Bob Smith Dec 16, 03:29 PM #
Let’s cover all the bases. William Allan Kritsonis, PhD, should comment on the subject of SMTP gateways. We need to know.
— jon6707 Dec 16, 05:15 PM #