In a crisis or as issues arise, Ithaca College must respond in a timely manner and be open and candid in disseminating accurate and complete information to the public. CERT, the Office of Marketing Communications, and the Office of Public Safety and Emergency Management work together to ensure the college is prepared to communicate during crisis situations.
The following strategies can/will be utilized to communicate with the campus community when necessary:
Intercom Alerts – Messages that are distributed via the Ithaca College email system to all faculty staff, and student’s @ithaca.edu email accounts regarding urgent matters. These alerts can also be found on ithaca.edu/intercom and in myhome.ithaca.edu.
Public Safety Alerts – Timely Warnings are issued in response to certain crimes or unsafe conditions that pose an immediate or ongoing threat to the campus community. The PSAs are distributed via email to all faculty, staff, students, and the student newspaper and hard copies are physically posted in each residence hall and in the main entry doors of many on-campus facilities. Messages are also accessible on the College’s MyHome web portal and the Office of Public Safety website.
Emergency Notification System – Urgent messages that identify a threat to safety or a change in the college’s operating status. Messages can be sent to all faculty, staff, and students or a segment of the population via on-campus phones, Ithaca.edu email addresses, cellular phone text messages, or additionally provided phones and email addresses. This system does not rely on the campus network and is independently operable, barring a malfunction to the campus network. Ithaca College faculty, staff, and students can register their contact information here. All ithaca.edu email addresses are automatically registered, but we strongly encourage campus community members to update their contact information with at least one additional method of immediate contact.
Outdoor Warning System – The College has installed an outdoor public loudspeaker system that includes both a warning siren and a public address capability to delivery emergency warnings and messages. The Outdoor Warning System (OWS) is not intended to be heard inside buildings.
Whenever the Emergency Notification System (ENS) or OWS are used the college will also attempt to post information to:
- The college’s homepage at www.ithaca.edu
- The college’s Facebook and Twitter accounts
- The emergency phone hotline (607- 274-1495)
If the college’s web servers are unavailable, an alternate website with the most pertinent information will be activated to replace www.ithaca.edu.