Next Western Alert test set for April 21 at 9:50 a.m.

The next test of Western Washington University's Western Alert emergency communications system is set for Wednesday, April 21 at 9:50 a.m. Western Alert is a group of ways to reach students, faculty and staff with important information for your safety. Multiple ways to provide information is considered a best practice.

Messages from the Western Alert emergency communications system come in three warning levels, plus weather advisories:

• Western Alerts are sent when an imminent threat to the health and safety of campus exists. These alerts are always sent via both text and e-mail and may include other notification methodologies, depending on the severity of the incident. The texts will almost always point you to your WWU email for more information. These messages may incorporate follow-up information as it becomes available.
• WWU Crime Notices at Western shall be distributed to students and employees for any of the 15 Clery Act crimes that pose a serious or continuing threat to the Western community.
• WWU Campus Advisories are sent out for situations when there is not an imminent threat but a situation of concern.
• Western Weather Advisories are sent to campus when inclement weather such as snow has occurred, and the campus community may need to adjust their schedules due to closures or delays, or when the university is operating on a normal schedule but more time may be needed to get to campus. Weather notification is also posted on the WWU home page, the WWU Inclement Weather page at http://em.wwu.edu/inclement.html, and by calling Western’s Storm Hotline at (360) 650-6500. See the Inclement Weather page for more information about policies and procedures regarding how the campus reacts when bad weather arrives.
   

Western Alert elements activated during campus-wide messaging may include:

• Desktop notification on installed computers throughout campus, including offices, classrooms and computer labs. Users need to only click on the green "Acknowledge" button to make the test message disappear.
• Voice messages over the fire alarm system (building enunciation).
• Text messages to everyone who has registered in Web4u at MyWestern.
• Emails to every university email address.
• Messaging on the university's digital information boards across campus.
• A Western Alert message on Western's emergency communication webpage, emergency.wwu.edu.
• Message on Western's Twitter feed.