October 3, 2008—News of the fatal stabbing that left a University of Southern California (USC) student dead has sparked concern over the effectiveness of USC’s emergency notification system, TrojansAlert.
The system came under scrutiny when some students who were signed up for the service said they did not receive text messages notifying them of the incident.
These new technical problems coincide with a September 2008 study by the Georgia Institute of Technology that found text-message alert systems are ineffective in large-scale emergency situations because cellular networks cannot handle high traffic volumes.
The study was published shortly after President George W. Bush signed into law a new measure requiring colleges to immediately notify their students of emergencies around campus.
Department of Public Safety Capt. David Carlisle told the Daily Trojan that the TrojansAlert system was successful in handling the emergency traffic loads on Sept. 18, the day of the stabbing.
“The text message was sent at approximately 5:50 a.m. and within a matter of two to three minutes, 18,000 text messages had been sent and more were still being sent,” he says.
Several USC students have said they did not receive the alert and heard about the incident from other students.
For more information, see the USC Web site.
