MTSU plans RAVE safety system test Feb. 26 with emails, texts, calls, social media

MTSU students take advantage of the springlike late-winter weather outside the Student Union and Paul W. Martin Sr. Honors College Building. The university will test its Critical Notification System Wednesday, Feb. 28, with a simple email, text and voice message to more than 25,000 users to ensure that students, faculty and staff properly receive urgent communications. (MTSU photo by Andy Heidt)

MTSU will briefly test its emergency alert system Wednesday, Feb. 26, with a special message for the university’s 25,000-plus registered users via email, text, automated phone calls as well as social media posts and a new desktop notification for university employees.

The test of MTSU’s Critical Notification System, conducted each semester by the University Police Department, is set for 1:15 p.m. Wednesday.

Back in December 2019, the University introduced Alertus Desktop Notifications for MTSU employees as an enhancement to our Alert4U (aka Rave) critical notification system. In emergency situations, in addition to other current modes of communication through Alert4U such as text messages, phone calls, and emails, these notifications will be sent to computers on campus and will take over their screens. You will want to pay attention to any message that pops up, follow any instructions, and then click “Acknowledge” to remove the alert.

The university’s website, www.mtsu.edu, its MTSUNews.com news site, and all digital signage around the Murfreesboro campus will display the test message just as they do during a real emergency, along with the university’s primary social media channels.

The university’s Twitter account, @MTSUNews, will tweet the test alert, and it also will post to the MTSU and university police Facebook pages.

All current MTSU students, faculty and staff can verify and update their Rave notification preferences by logging in with their usernames and passwords at www.getrave.com/login/mtsu.

You can learn more about MTSU’s Critical Notification System at www.mtsu.edu/alert4u. Information about the alert system is also available anytime on the university’s weather information page, www.mtsunews.com/weather.

MTSU tests and evaluates its Critical Notification System once each semester to pinpoint potential problems. Previous tests continue to show a near-100 percent message success rate, and digital signage in campus buildings displayed the test alerts within 30 seconds of transmission.

— Gina E. Fann (gina.fann@mtsu.edu)