• by Chris , October 27, 2010

Yesterday at Ball State, we had some severe weather. There were a few funnel clouds spotted in Delaware County and we could hear the tornado sirens on campus. Being from the Midwest, I was not extremely worried about the storms, but I was curious about what was going on outside.

Last year, I signed up to receive emergency texts from Ball State. They use it to warn the students about events such as bomb threats, power outages, and other emergencies. I was waiting for my phone to vibrate during the storm with a message from Ball State, but the message never came.

You would think a pending twister on campus would be an emergency students should be aware of…

I understand students do not want their phones to be lit up by messages from the university. However, I think it is a good idea for the campus to be able to keep students informed during emergencies. It is an opt-in service for which students do not have to sign up.

Ball State floods my inbox with emails about upcoming events and other emails every day. I did not even receive an email about the tornado warning from Ball State. I knew that there was going to be a sale of coupon books, but I did not even know if I should seek shelter from the storm.

Does anyone see a problem here?

If you are going to set up a system to keep students inform, you should actually use it for that purpose. I might as well not have even signed up for the program.