VCU news

By Brian McNeill

Virginia Commonwealth University will conduct a full test of its emergency communications and alerting systems, including outdoor sirens, on the Monroe Park and MCV campuses and at the VCU Police Department’s headquarters, 224 E. Broad St., at noon on Wednesday, Sept. 4.

The test will include a one-minute siren activation, along with text messages, mass email, Alertus boxes, digital signs, desktop alerts, the LiveSafe app, the VCU Mobile app, the VCU Facebook page and VCU Alert website information — all part of a multichannel system for communicating emergency information to the university and the surrounding community. VCU Health team members will receive a test email and text message. (To learn about how and when police issue alerts, watch the VCU Alert system video.)

Ten minutes before the start of the test, VCU Alert emergency text and email subscribers will receive a message indicating that testing begins at noon; they will also receive a second text message at noon to signify the start of the test. VCU Police will send a third message once testing has concluded.

The following list contains more information about each of VCU’s alerting technologies:

Outdoor sirens: Sirens on the Monroe Park and MCV campuses, and at VCU Police headquarters, could be activated to signal that an immediate, life-threatening emergency has occurred or may be imminent. The purpose of the siren is to alert people outside buildings that there is an active threat to their safety. If you hear a siren in a real emergency, emergency text and email messages, Alertus boxes, digital signs, desktop alerts, the LiveSafe app, the VCU Mobile app, VCU’s Facebook page and the VCU Alert website will notify you about the type of emergency that’s occurring and the actions you should take immediately. 

Text messages: These messages will notify VCU Alert emergency text subscribers about the type of emergency that is occurring and the actions you should take immediately. VCU faculty, staff and students and VCU Health employees are automatically subscribed for VCU Alert text messages. Community members may visit alert.vcu.edu/signup/ to subscribe.

Mass email: VCU Alert text message subscribers may also subscribe to receive the same emergency alert messages via email. VCU Health team members are automatically enrolled in VCU Alert emergency emails. (Following certain types of incidents, those with VCU and VCU Health email addresses will automatically receive a VCU Alert email with additional information.)

Alertus boxes: These devices are in classrooms, residence halls and other high-traffic areas throughout campus. They are designed to provide an auditory and visual alert when a threat has occurred or is imminent. Much like text messages, information would scroll on the screen during an emergency.

Social media: Emergency alerting information would be posted to the VCU Facebook page.

Digital signage: Digital displays are located throughout campus with a particular focus in high-traffic areas. These signs would display emergency alerting information.

Desktop alerts: The majority of VCU-supported computers (and many “Mac” products) provide full-screen notifications on workstations in offices, laboratories, classrooms and study spaces. These messages would display emergency alerting information. VCU Health desktop computers will start receiving these alerts in spring 2024.

LiveSafe & VCU Mobile notifications: All VCU LiveSafe and VCU Mobile users would receive a “push” message through the VCU LiveSafe application that would include emergency alerting information.

VCU Police will confirm that an active threat is occurring prior to issuing emergency text and email messages, or fully activating the VCU Alert system.