The Mississippi State University community will now be better informed during times of crisis with updates to the university’s Maroon Alert system.
The updates will allow the university to deliver updates more quickly across more platforms. The first of these is an app, which any alert will go to at the same time it goes to users’ text messages.
Users in the Maroon Alert system will now have to respond to the alerts, If the user does not respond to the text and the alert in the app, they will receive a phone call. Other updates to the system include faster delivery speeds, personalized weather notification and community messages.
Those without the app will receive a SMS text. A test of the new system is scheduled for noon today, and is scheduled to conclude by 12:10 p.m.
“These new features are going to help us make sure people are getting the message,” said MSU Emergency Manager Brent Crocker.
Crocker asked those in the Maroon Alert System to add the number 89361 to their contacts and name it “Maroon Alert.”
He also advised all MSU faculty, staff and students to ensure their cell phone numbers were correct in the MSU Banner Web System.
He said the university had partnered with the Everbridge company for the new Maroon Alert app.
Everbridge is a global software firm specializing in alert systems.
“It’s going to come from a new number,” Crocker said. “We are working to inform the university that they’re going to receive the Maroon Alert from a new number, and that they should save that number in their phones.”
The free Everbridge app can be found in both Apple and Android’s app stores. After downloading the app, users should enter “msstate1878” as the single sign-on phrase, then enter their MSU net ID and password to log in. IN some cases alerts will also go out over campus loudspeakers and the campus radio station, WMSV 91.1 or be broadcast over MSTV. More information can be found on www.emergency.msstate.edu.
“An emergency can happen at any time, and it’s important for our university to stay informed,” Crocker said. “It’s important for the university to be able to reach out to the university community as quickly as possible in the methods people are most used to receiving their information.”