Emergency Notifications will occur when there is an immediate need to impart emergency information to the entire campus. It will be sent through the Emergency Alert System or word of mouth. It will typically be the initial communication in a campus-wide emergency situation that requires an immediate response from all those on campus.
In the event that a situation arises, either on or off campus, that, in the judgment of the director of Campus Safety in consultation with the Campus Life Office, constitutes an ongoing or continuing threat, a campus-wide “timely warning” will be issued to the campus community. The warning will be issued through the College email system to all students and employees. These warnings may also be supplemented by the College’s Emergency Alert System.
The College will use a variety of means to communicate emergency information or timely warnings.
The Bard College at Simon’s Rock Emergency Alert System allows the College to contact the community in the event of an emergency by sending messages via:
When an emergency occurs that requires community attention or action, the emergency notification system will be activated and you will be notified by the methods noted above using the personal information you have provided. It is imperative that your contact information is accurate and up to date in order for you to receive emergency notifications.
A method to effectively communicate emergency information to a large number of people at virtually the same time.
A way to send nonemergency, routine or spam messages
Not every emergency can be anticipated, however, the College has developed standard emergency messages that can be modified easily for use in a number of situations. This will allow notifications to be sent quickly.
Contact information used for the Emergency Alert system is taken directly from information provided by students, faculty, and staff in existing College systems. It is the responsibility of students, faculty, and staff to make sure this information is accurate and up to date in order to receive notifications.
Contact information will only be used by the College and will in no way be distributed to outside parties.
This service is designed to alert individual participants when an emergency occurs. One that requires immediate community attention or action. It is College policy that participants:
The Emergency Alert system is provided free of charge to active Bard College at Simon’s Rock staff, faculty, and students. There is no cost associated with participation in the service. However, participants are responsible for charges made by service providers related to text messages and mobile phone calls—actual and test messages.
The Emergency Alert system will be tested once a semester while class is in session. Additional testing may be conducted as part of drills and exercises, or as necessary.
The confirmation message will read the following:
“Simon's Rock Alerts: You are now confirmed to receive alerts from us. More info text reply “HELP” or “STOP ROCKER” to cancel. Msg & data rates may apply.”
When you receive the confirmation, please text reply back with “STOP ROCKER”.
The confirmation message will read the following:
“Simon's Rock Alerts: You are now confirmed to stop receiving messages from 762537. More info text reply “HELP.”
If you no longer have that message on your phone, please contact us at 877-684-4468 orsms@blackboard.com to provide your text-enabled phone number and opt out request.
If you text reply HELP, you will receive the following message:
Bb Connect notifications. Users receive relevant alerts. For more info www.blackboardconnect.com/sms, sms@blackboard.com. To opt-out, text “STOP 762537”
Check with your provider to see if text messaging has been enabled since you will need to be subscribed to a text messaging plan in order to receive or reply to text messages. You should also ask your mobile phone provider if your device accepts premium text messages.
No. If your SMS phone was already submitted to our database, you should be confirmed to receive SMS alerts. However, you can check if you are opted-in by texting the word “SUBSCRIBE” to 23177 or 63079 and you will receive the following reply:
Simon's Rock Alerts: This phone number has already been opted in. More info text reply “HELP” or "STOP 762537" to opt-out
You may request to begin receiving text messages by texting “SUBSCRIBE 762537” to 23177 or 63079.
No. Once your phone number has been opted-in, it stays registered within the system.