2008 Woodie Awards
Policies of UGAAlert clarified
Issue date: 4/15/08 Section: Opinions
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It was unfortunate the Alpha Phi Alpha fraternity annual Pajama Party event was cancelled during the weekend due to several threats that were telephoned to the University Police Department.
Not only did these threats elicit fear and cause confusion, the threats ruined a student organization's philanthropic and social event.
As a result of threats, the event was cancelled and the University Police Department and the University Student Affairs Division utilized various methods to notify attendees.
Many efforts were utilized to notify the partygoers including high visibility mobile L.E.D. billboards.
University police officers were also positioned at key intersections around the Ramsey Center to notify students of the event cancellation.
In addition, local and Atlanta radio stations broadcast news of the cancellation to a broader geographic area.
The University Police deemed there was no imminent threat to the general public and that the situation was under control.
Thus, the situation did not meet the definition of when to use UGAAlert - when immediate action is required by the general public to take measures to protect themselves.
This would occur when a tornado warning was issued for campus, when an active shooter was loose in the vicinity or when a chemical spill impacted the health of the public.
This does not occur when a bomb threat is telephoned in regarding a building that can be contained and searched, when a rumor is running rampant on campus or when snow is making roads slippery.
Furthermore, UGAAlert is not set up to be an informational system for the University campus community.
It is a tool to notify the entire University community when immediate personal action is required by the majority of the campus population.
The UGAAlert activation policy and specific instances when the system will be utilized may be found at www.ugaalert.uga.edu/faq.html#44.
- Steven D. Harris is the interim director for the University's Office of Security and Emergency Preparedness.
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