Dear campus community member,

In order to maintain an effective emergency response and evacuation plan, the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign recently completed a test including two components: a drill and an exercise. The test was designed to challenge our emergency response procedures and how we notify you of a threat to our campus community.

On Sept. 3, we initiated a test of our Illini-Alert emergency notification system. The drill was announced ahead of time by a mass email to campus and an Eweek notice to faculty and staff. The Illini-Alert system sent an email to the campus email addresses of all active students, faculty and staff. Those who have registered alternate email addresses also received a notification. Those who have registered a cellphone number were sent a text message during this drill.

Illini-Alert messages are also posted to Facebook, Twitter, digital signage and on campus websites through our Emergency Web Alert System. This approach increases the speed and breadth of our distribution of emergency notifications, and it provides a robust communication engine that will continue to function successfully even if one system fails to work properly.

For the second component, university personnel and emergency responders from a number of local agencies gathered for a functional exercise on Sept. 27 from 8 a.m. to noon at the Illinois Fire Service Institute. Those involved were presented with a scenario involving a natural disaster that directly affected campus. The exercise tested various components of the Campus Emergency Operations Plan, including evacuation procedures.

This test was conducted to ensure we have a robust response plan in the event of a campus emergency, and that our emergency notifications will reach you in a timely and effective manner. If you have not signed up to receive emergency messages through Illini-Alert, please visit emergency.illinois.edu to register.

To view the University’s emergency response and evacuation procedures, please visit go.illinois.edu/EmergencyResponse.

The University of Illinois Police Department is committed to maintaining a safe and secure campus environment where education, research and public service can flourish. We can only do so with the assistance of our community, and we hope this information is useful to all of our campus partners.

Sincerely,

Lieutenant Todd Short
University of Illinois Police Department
Office of Campus Emergency Management

   
     
   
This mailing approved by:
Public Safety

sent to:
Everyone
   
     
 
Massmail Archive   •   Massmail powered by Webtools