University of Arkansas Fayetteville - Razorback Yearbook (Fayetteville, AR)

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RAZALERT Walking through the Union Mall, Libby Weiler checks her latest text messges. RazALERT allowed students to be notified via text message about emergencies on campus. is

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STUDENT LIFE TEXT: ROSALYN TAYLOR HELEN CHASE IMAGES: JONATHAN GIBSON Campus tragedies across the NATION SPUR UNIVERSITY OFFICIALS TO FIND INNOVATIVE WAYS OF KEEPING ALL HOGS SAFE. The sidewalks lining the Greek Theater were thick with students fighting the crowds as they made their way to class. As many chatted with friends or sipped their morning cup of coffee, phones suddenly began ringing or vibrating in almost every student’s pocket or purse. As they flipped their phones open or rummaged to find them in the bottom of their backpacks, they realized all their screens said the same thing: A violent act has just occurred on campus. Take cover until further notice. In the sender box, there was one word: RazALERT. After the tragic shootings on campuses such as Virginia Tech, Northern Illinois University and the University of Central Arkansas, more schools across the nation became aware of the need for a way to notify entire campuses of emergency situations. At the UA that system, RazALERT, came together in 2008. With RazALERT, there were three specific routes taken to ensure proper and reliable notification. Whether there was an act of violence or an extreme weather warning, anyone registered in the system would be notified via e-mail, text message and voicemail simultaneously. Students were given the choice through their ISIS account to register for the service. Another feature that set RazALERT apart was that all of the information was trackable and automatic, and communication was two-way. Two-way communication added an important multiple electronic means of communicatic was what set RazALERT apart from the simile emergency alert systems used at many colleg and universities nationwide. The UA began working on the project in 200 Contact Info A violent act has just occurred on campus. Take cover until further notice aspect to campus security and safety because a person who had been alerted could reply, letting officials know they were safe and out of danger’s way.This could assist in getting an estimate on how many people were safe and how many people may had been harmed. “[RazALERT] shows that the Emergency Preparedness Committee is doing something to help make students more aware of their surroundings and of possible threats to their security,’’ said Bailey McBride, a sophomore journalism and anthropology major. The creative mastermind behind the idea, UA webmaster Chris Nixon, said the use of after the Virginia Tech tragedy. Nixon said tf reason it had taken so long to implement tl 1 system was due to the need to create a syste 1 advanced enough to keep up with curre 1 technological standards. Most systems, like the one used at UCA, on alerted resident halls or administrators throu£ e-mail. Nixon said this was inefficient because the possibility of the e-mail not getting to tt recipient in time, or even at all. “I like RazAlert because I know that A matter where I am on campus, I can know wh is happening,’’ freshman Brooke Peeples said. ' makes me feel safe.”

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STUDENT LIFE Students find another side to Bikes, Blues BBQ besides THE BIKERS, BOOZE AND FUNNEL CAKES THE SIZE OF HUBCAPS. One thousand or more Harley Davidsons. Five hundred Goldwings. Four hundred Yamahas. Two thousand or more empty plastic bottles. Where there is a festival, there is trash, but like every year, the UA stepped in to help the city of Fayetteville deal with that problem at the annual Bikes, Blues and BBQ event. Hundreds of students signed up, either on their own, through an RSO or with their sorority or fraternity to work the event in whatever way possible. Senior Rachel Pierce signed up to work a few hours through her organization, Beta Alpha Psi. “I think it’s the most fun opportunity in service hours you can get,” Pierce said. ‘‘It’s really interesting to see what people wear.” Juniors Sarah Burrow and Briana Estrello also volunteered. “We heard about it through the Panhellenic council and volunteered with the Red Cross doing trash pick-up and making some posters,” Burrow said. “I’ve been to the festival before, just to see the bikes, but this time I wanted to see the other side of it.” Other students felt the same way. “I really like to volunteer,” Estrello said.“And it’s a lot of fun to volunteer at. A lot of people are freaked out by bikers, when really they can be the nicest people.” Burrow agreed, and said some of the bikers didn’t fit the stereotypes. “Half the time, they aren’t what people consider ‘real’ bikers. They are just lawyers, policemen or people who work at banks just having fun.” different reason for volunteering at the festiv Colin Shaughnessy, a Phi Delta pledge, receive a citation from the University and had to wo some service hours. “I got this e-mail with some choices to wo off my service hours and Bikes and Blues W Jonathan Faught, a sophomore who signed up to work, manned the volunteer check-in table. “We work the table so that everyone can get their shirts and assignments and get their name on the list to show that they were there,” Faught said. “I really like the atmosphere, and I think the charity aspect to this whole event is great, even though the bikes can be a little loud sometimes.” There were some students that had a slightly one of them,” Shaughnessy said.“I thought, know, that really isn’t a bad deal,’ so I signed 1 to work it.” No matter what reason brought stude 1 volunteers to Dickson, the experience was erf of community for freshman Abigail Scott. “This is a big thing for Fayetteville,” Scd said. “It’s a lot of fun, no matter what, you $ united. Biker, volunteer, concession worker, v are all here for the same reason. Everyone g 6 along.”