Ithaca College to install public alert system, siren

Dave Maley, Ithaca College’s associate director of media relations, confirmed last night that the college will be installing two public address systems as an added precautionary measure in case of an on-campus emergency.

Maley said the public address systems will consist of two large speakers/sirens that will be installed on top of the Campus Center and on the Terrace Dining Hall. The college will be able to activate a loud siren noise, play a pre-recorded voice message, or simply speak to the campus through a microphone. It’ll be audible to students even in their dorm rooms.

Maley said this will allow the college to reach more people than it is currently able to with the text message/phone alert system.

According the the Chronicle, more than a dozen other colleges have installed sirens or announced plans to do so in the past year, citing the flaws in a text message or phone alert system. The systems cost more than $100,000 to purchase and set up, the paper said.

UPDATE 3/2: Cornell University recently installed 4 sirens on several buildings around its campus, at a total cost of $250,000. The sirens should be up and running by the end of this week, the Cornell Sun reports.