Emergency Mass Notification

The University employs several systems that may be activated during emergency conditions. Some of these systems are under the express control of Kent State University Police Services. Others have dual activation control with University Communications and Marketing (UCM). There are a number of conditions that may necessitate alerting the university community. These could include occurrences of certain crimes, tornado warnings, evacuations, acts of violence and searches for wanted or missing people. Except for tornado sirens, if an emergency system is activated, an “all clear” message should be broadcast after the emergency condition has subsided.

University Mass Notification System (MNS)

KSU Police Services utilizes building speaker systems and Cisco IP phones to make voice announcements in university facilities. The MNS is connected to speakers in the buildings and university registered Cisco IP phones so that KSU Police Services can deliver a voice message to the university community in emergency situations.  The phones have also been programmed to deliver written messages on their phone display when the system is activated.

 Tornado Sirens

The university has several tornado sirens located throughout campus to be used in case of tornado warnings. They are also capable of delivering a voice message for other emergency conditions.

Tornado Siren Activation:

• Sirens are sounded for 3 minutes. If the hazardous condition still exists after 20 minutes, the sirens are activated for another 3 minutes. This will continue until the hazardous condition is over.

Siren Testing:

• Bi-Monthly Tests are conducted on the first Wednesday of every month at 1100 hours, and on the third Wednesday at 1830 hours and last for three minutes during tornado awareness month, a test is performed at the designated time for the statewide test
• Repair Tests last for only a few seconds at a time and involve only the affected siren

FlashAlerts

FlashAlerts is Kent State’s official emergency text notification system to alert subscribers of critical information. FlashAlerts expands the university's ability to send critical news and information to the university community during campus emergencies. KSU Police Services and UCM have dual activation control. During a campus emergency situation, FlashAlerts can send a text message delivering critical information.

Mass Email; kent.edu

UCM has the ability to send out mass emails and make changes to the University website to provide updated information during emergency conditions. Emails are sent to all active university emails for faculty, staff and students. Website changes include posting an emergency banner and the placement of announcements describing the emergency condition, instructions and updates.