Technology on campus speeds emergency response

I was just speaking with a friend of mine named Eric about this week's bomb threat on campus. He was remarking how the University's technological improvements on emergency response seem to have made them faster than the physical response procedures that the Minneapolis Police Department.

Earlier this week, while Eric was in class in Blegen Hall, a friend of his showed him an e-mail she'd received alerting her to the bomb threat. He immediately opened up a web browser and went to the U of MN home page, which had more information about the threat. They showed it to their professor, who immediately excused class.

The students got wind of the emergency and out of the building before they saw any police officers, and before someone had to come in and interrupt the class.

Coupled with this summer's upgrades to the emergency voicemail notifications, I'd say that the Office of Information Technology is ahead of the curve. Hopefully I won't get any more calls from MN Daily reporters on the subject--folks who need more information should call (612) 301-HELP and ask to speak to a manager.