E-Alert will undergo a routine test at College Coffee later this month. A record number of users, just less than 4,500, are currently enrolled with the emergency response system, an increase of almost 1,000 compared to last semester, according to Chris Fulkerson, assistant vice president for technology.
There will be announcements prior to the test, which will include the two sirens on campus, located on Alumni and East Gyms, and E-Alert messages, which can be received via text messages or emails.
The university originally experienced problems with the system last semester during a tornado warning April 5.
Fulkerson said the issue stemmed from cell phone carriers who had not completed the necessary updates to their service. They have since followed up and corrected the problem.
"We can find kinks in the system, and we found that some of the cell phone companies had to make corrections in their systems because the messages were delayed so it has to integrate back into our system," Fulkerson said in a previous interview. "So we need to do this every semester to make sure."
Fulkerson said previous testing of the system was generally hit or miss. The university's Safety Committee, however, felt it was important to test on a regular basis. Assessments will now be held around the beginning of each semester.
An RSS feed was recently added to the system, as well.