MtA emergency alert system

MtA Alert messages will automatically be sent to your Mount Allison e-mail account.

However, you can also choose to receive messages by text, at an alternate e-mail account, or through a voicemail message.

You can provide a cell phone number, e-mail address, and/or phone number through your Self Service account.

Go to “User Options” page and then “MtA Alert Options” section to add your Emergency contact information to Self Service.

Alerts will be sent out:

• When there are campus closures, including storm closures
• When there is an emergency situation that could present a threat to your safety and where you may be required to take action — a building evacuation, for example, due to a significant flood, a bomb threat, or a chemical spill

The system will not be used to advise of technical issues, road conditions, or emergencies that do not pose a threat to others (e.g. an individual medical emergency).

Emergency alerts will automatically be sent to your Mount Allison e-mail account. In addition, the MtA Alert system can send you one or all of the following:

• Text message
• Voicemail/phone call
• Message to an alternate e-mail account

However, you must provide additional emergency contact information through Self Service in order to receive messages by text, phone, or at an alternate e-mail.

You are strongly encouraged to provide Mount Allison with at least one additional way to contact you in an emergency. Consider how you currently receive messages and choose the method that will ensure a message gets to you as quickly as possible.

Please note: if you choose to receive phone messages, your phone will ring at the number you provide when an alert is issued. For campus closures due to winter storms, for example, this may mean your phone will ring in the early morning hours when the closure is announced.

• E-mail sent through the system will have “MtA Alert” as the sender and will come from an @everbridge.net address.
   
• Text messages come from a five digit number, “893-64”.
   
• Phone messages will come from a toll-free 1-844 number set up for this purpose. The caller ID will be “1-844-682-2578”.

In a less urgent situation (a storm closure, for example), the phone message may be a voice recording. In an urgent situation, where taking the time to make a voice recording is not feasible, the system uses a text-to-speech function, which will read the message over the phone.

Sample text message

Sample phone call

Sample e-mail

You should expect to receive duplicate messages.

For example, if you signed up to receive emergency messages via text messaging, you can expect to receive a text message as well as a message on your MtA e-mail.

This redundancy is intentional to ensure important information reaches as many people as possible in the shortest amount of time.

The contact list for MtA Alert is updated regularly.

Graduating students, those who have not signed up for any courses during a term, or those who have withdrawn from the University will not continue to receive alerts.

Faculty and staff who have retired or left the University will also be removed from the contact list. Faculty who are on sabbatical will continue to receive alerts as many are on campus for at least a portion of their sabbatical.

Individuals with communication impairments are encouraged to use the same tools to access notifications that they use to facilitate their studies and work.

Notifications are sent through multiple channels. Text and e-mail alerts are available for those with hearing impairments. Phone messages are an option for those with visual impairments or who have other difficulties reading text. In an urgent situation, phone messages may use the system's text-to-speech function to read the message over the phone.

The message may have been viewed as spam and sent to your spam or junk folder.

To ensure future messages get through, find the message in your junk or spam folder and mark it as not being spam or junk mail. (Each e-mail system does this a little differently, but usually there is an option to "Mark as not junk" or "Mark as not spam".)

The mass notification system helps us to quickly notify you of emergencies that could present a threat to your safety and where you may be required to take action. It provides new ways to reach you in an emergency (via text and phone) making it more likely you will receive important information in a timely manner, no matter where you are on campus.

Most emergency messages will be sent by the Marketing and Communications Office. Depending on the emergency this may be in consultation with the University’s Emergency Response Team or another emergency response agency (the RCMP or the fire department, for example).

The information provided will be used only for emergency notifications.

You are responsible for making all updates or changes to your contact information. Mount Allison does not update your information from other sources. If you change your phone number, it is important to update your emergency contact information on Self Service as soon as possible.

The contact information you enter will be provided to a third-party vendor (Everbridge) for purposes of notifying you in the event of an emergency. The information will not be shared for any other purpose or with any other group.

The third-party vendor has agreed that it has no right to use your contact information for any purpose other than sending you mass notification system messages. The vendor does not have rights to sell, disclose, or trade your contact information. When required by law (for example, in compliance with a subpoena or court order), your contact information may be disclosed.

Only individuals employed by Mount Allison who must use this information to administer and manage the MtA Alert system will also have access to your contact information.

Yes, the University will test all emergency notification channels at least once each fall and winter term. You will be informed when each test is scheduled and test messages will include reference to a test in the subject line. Your feedback is always welcome. Please send questions or comments to mtaalert@mta.ca

When testing MtA Alert, administrators will always include in the subject line or in the message a clear statement that the message is a test. Urgent messages will carry subject lines such as “Severe weather alert”, “EMERGENCY”, or “Active threat”.

Yes. You may receive text alerts or phone messages at an international phone number.

Information distributed via the MtA Alert system is free to all students, faculty, and staff. Whether you are charged for text messages received through phone alerts will depend on the terms of your contract with your service provider.