Disaster drill comes off without a hitch

In the wake of tragedies such as the one at Northern Illinois University this week, colleges and universities across the nation have begun to recognize the need for campus-wide notification systems to immediately alert students and staff in case of an imminent threat.

On Feb. 6, DePauw University conducted a test initiated by the Emergency Management Office that, according to Director of Public Safety Angie Nally, was for the most part successful.

"It appears the test was a success," stated Nally. "There were a couple of glitches, but they have been taken care of."

One minor problem involved an unanticipated extra step in e-mail notification, but Nally said that the issue had been addressed and corrected.

DePauw notified its constituency through e-mail, Novell networks, campus radio station WGRE and JYNGLE, the university's text-messaging system.

Nally went on to say that she was pleased by the overall success of the test and that more were planned.