While the constant buzzing of my phone made me feel immensely popular (despite the fact that most of my friends received the catastrophe warning texts before me) on Sept. 6, I quickly became overwhelmed by UNC’s tornado warnings. With Alert Carolina, my iPhone quickly went from my most prized possession to a corrupted alarm clock constantly on snooze.
A much more active Alert Carolina system is one of many changes administrators say will improve safety on campus.
Developed by the University in 2008, Alert Carolina notifies students about emergency situations that could immediately affect the safety of the campus community via emails and text messages.
After last year’s outcry over Alert Carolina’s lack of response to the Morrison Residence Hall break-in, there has been a change in protocol. Under the new emergency notification protocols adopted last month, Alert Carolina now also notifies students with timely warnings and informational messages, according to its website.
As most students have entered the digital age, linking one’s email account and phone number means being notified by Alert Carolina at least twice for each message. During last week’s turbulent weather, I received six notifications to my iPhone within the hour, along with sirens reminding me of the apocalypse.
Emily Pope, a freshman biology major, said she believes the warning system notifications were superfluous. “It’s excessive and annoying,” she said.
Coming from an area where tornados are not common, the sirens seemed to indicate extreme danger, she said. However, after her professors ignored the warnings, she believed the situation was not serious.
Andrew Matthews, a junior communications major, said the system’s new protocol is too much. He said after last year’s uproar over the break-in, the new idea of “better to be safe than sorry” has been excessive thus far.
Freshman Devon Pinkus, a business major, agreed with Matthews and said the warnings he has received have been common sense and unnecessary. He decided not to link his phone number to the system in order to avoid the frequent warnings. “I don’t feel like I’m missing out on anything,” he said.
Although meant to increase the safety and protection of students, Alert Carolina’s new system of notification has left the student body feeling like a stage-five clinger has gotten a hold of their numbers.
Pope stated that if the messages continued to come in so frequently, she will eventually begin to disregard them altogether.
After these first few weeks of nuisance, the student body hopes the system will re-evaluate their protocols on what is text-worthy and what should be left to be reported in the news the next day.
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