Michigan State University plans to test a new campus wide alert system this month.
The system utilizes outdoor emergency weather sirens and emergency phones to broadcast pre-recorded announcements and live messaging as needed.
Marlon Lynch is the university’s Vice President and Chief Safety Officer for Police and Public Safety.
He says the upcoming test will be important to gauge how clear messaging can be heard.
"If it is someone speaking or if it is a computer speaking, is it clear? Some challenges with that have been, you know, wind, locations of speakers. Is it sort of reverberating and bouncing off the buildings?"
He says his team is also exploring using a tone system to indicate emergency situations.
A notification will be sent out to campus community members prior to the test.
The new alert system is part of continuing efforts to make security upgrades in the wake of the February mass shooting.
That includes moving forward on a new security operations center on campus and the installation of classroom door locks.
The center will manage video security and electronic building access among other technology in one central location.
Lynch says his team is working as fast as it can to get the center at least partially up and running for the fall semester.
"These are initiatives that some of our peer institutions have been done literally over years. And these are, for us, being accelerated to be done within a shorter window."
In an April update from the university, Interim President Teresa Woodruff shared locking devices for more than 1,600 classroom doors had been ordered. The plan is to have 75% of them installed during the summer.
