Boston University students received a flurry of text and email messages from BU Alert Service Tuesday night, containing information about an armed robbery in Brookline at 5 p.m.
While a campus alert system is a worthy idea, BU’s system needs serious revamping.
Students and staff should all be receiving the same messages at the same time. On Tuesday, that was not the case.
Some students reported receiving delayed text alerts.
Hearing from a friend that he or she received an alert and discovering that you did not is incredibly disconcerting, as a delayed message could put one in harm’s way.
What’s more, one student reported receiving Tuesday’s three-piece message where the first part of the message was about the graduate student who was shot in April. The second and third parts of the message discussed the robbery incident in Brookline.
It is that sort of confusion or glitch that could incite panic. The BU community should not be receiving old alerts.
Several students also reported receiving the Brookline text alert several times throughout the night.
Not only does this scenario confuse BU Alert recipients, but it can incite panic as well.
Has the situation changed? Should we be concerned?
After receiving the same alert three or four, times, some recipients are going to start disregarding them.
What the BU Alert needs to do is live by the motto, “Do it right, and do it well the first time.”
Glitches happen. The service is trying to reach a lot of people at the same time.
However, the system could and should be improved.
Emergencies happen, and the BU community deserves an alert system that is exceptionally reliable. The current system does not cut it.
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