THE FALCON'S - Pfeiffer - Pfeiffer University

By Ashleigh Gray
For the past three
years, Pfeiffer University has
had an emergency alert
calling system informing
students and faculty about
important information
quickly. With the recent
severe weather Stanly
County and other
surrounding areas have been
experiencing, we have heard
a lot from the emergency
alert system.
“As a student living
off campus, I appreciate the
Emergency Alert System,”
junior Char Webber said. “In
Cabarrus County, we have no
system that alerts us of bad
weather. Receiving the call
was my only warning of
potential tornadoes in the
area.”
But some commuter
students take issue with the
system.
“It’s pointless for
them to call me at night
because I live 45 minutes
away,” sophomore Tyler
Smith said. “At 4am I just
want to sleep.”
Kathy Odell,
Pfeiffer’s Director of Human
Resources, is in charge of
generating the list of faculty
and students who are called
during the emergency. These
phone numbers come from
the numbers listed in the
NEWS
PFEIFFER ON ALERT
faculty and student records
on file.
So, who decides when
to send out an emergency
alert call?
“The instructions we
have given to the police
department is if there is a
warning and an imminent
threat, they should do it
without even talking to
anyone else,” Odell said. “If it
is something like inclement
weather, like snow, we have a
whole process and procedure
of who gets called. Those
decisions are made by the
President and [Director of
Facilities] Sharon Bard
before we would send out a
message about something
like that.”
The Emergency Alert
System is not just used for
alerting students about bad
weather. It is also for
warning the campus of any
danger such as a fire,
shooting or bomb threat.
“Any type of emergency that
requires quick action,” Odell
said.
If the Emergency
Alert System does not receive
an answer when calling a
student or faculty member,
the system will call up to five
times.
Pfeiffer RA Rachel
Biggerstaff thought it was
very helpful receiving the
Emergency Alert System call
during last month’s storms.
“After the RA’s get a
call like that, we know that
we have to get everyone to
safety,” Biggerstaff said. “It
was definitely a scary thing
to experience, but getting the
call helped with everyone’s
safety.”
10% STUDENT DISCOUNT W/ I.D. (SPECIAL NOT INCLUDED)
Pfeiffer University April 2012 Page 4