UNC Chapel Hill to Launch Alert Carolina Campaign for Student Safety

The community at the University of Carolina at Chapel Hill was stunned by the horrific slaying of student body president Eve Carson, and the aftermath has brought with it a number of difficult questions. One of the most pertinent has centered on safety precautions to protect those on campus: are sufficient measures in place to prevent another tragedy?

In an effort to ensure the safety of faculty, students and staff, the university recently announced the establishment of Alert Carolina, a safety awareness campaign. The effort centers on educating those living and working on campus about how to respond if an emergency situation arises as well as where to find the appropriate resources for dealing with such circumstances. A key component of Alert Carolina is a siren system that can be heard across campus. In addition, UNC is encouraging students and staff to make use of an existing text messaging service that will send emergency notifications and instructions to those who have registered their cell phones with the university. In an email delivered to the student body Thursday afternoon, Chancellor James Moeser outlined the new safety measures and encouraged students to sign up for emergency text message delivery.

Jeff McCracken, UNC police chief and director of public safety, stressed that the success of the program was dependent on individuals willing to embrace the system.

"For text messaging to be effective, we need students, faculty and staff who are interested to sign up by registering their cell phone numbers," said McCracken. "It's easy to do, and we hope people who use this form of communication will respond to our appeal. It could make a difference in an actual emergency."

The university assured students and faculty that their cell phone numbers would be kept private and only used in case of tests and emergencies. Registered numbers will not be automatically displayed in the UNC online campus directory, nor will they become public or used for advertising purposes.