Contact: Maridith Geuder
STARKVILLE, Miss.--A severe weather system moving through the state Thursday [Oct. 18] tested Mississippi State's emergency response systems with mixed results, said university President Robert H. "Doc" Foglesong.
"This real-life situation gave us an opportunity to see where we can improve, and we learned that some of our systems did not meet our expectations," he observed.
At approximately 1:05 p.m., a Maroon Alert text message was sent to MSU's contract provider for distribution to approximately 11,000 current subscribers.
"For some reason the system we rely on is not operating the way we need it to," Foglesong said. "Our hope is that our contractor will be able to resolve this issue before something more dramatic happens on our campus."
He added: "Meanwhile, we are aggressively investigating other options."
Other notification systems such as campus-wide sirens, instant messaging, notifications via campus radio station WMSV-FM, and announcements on the university emergency Web site were put into place.
The university's Emergency Operations Center was opened at approximately 1:25 p.m. and began collecting data related to the incident, said Vance H. Watson, vice president for agriculture, forestry, and veterinary medicine. As the on-call vice president, he acted as incident commander for the weather event.
In separate announcements, the campus community was alerted of the developing weather and given instructions about seeking safety. During the most severe part of the alert, at approximately 2 p.m., the crisis team announced a suspension of classes until the weather cleared. The all-clear notice was given at 2:28 p.m. and all normal activities, including classes, resumed.
In addition to some uprooted trees on the university's South Farm near the Mississippi Horse Park, the weather system scattered tin from the roofs of nearby buildings. No campus injuries were reported.
Watson said an after-action discussion by the team showed the need to clarify some of the information-gathering processes.
"We sometimes were receiving conflicting information about the existing weather conditions," he explained. "We will identify a central and consistent source of accurate information for the future."
Foglesong said immediate reports indicated campus confusion about the siren system. "We will develop protocols that clearly differentiate between a test situation and a real emergency," he said.
In addition, the Division of Academic Affairs will develop instructions for faculty in the event that an emergency is sounded. "There was some confusion among some faculty about what to do with classes that were in session," Watson said.
Foglesong said lessons learned from the Thursday event ultimately will improve response processes in the future.
"We will always err on the side of caution in responding to potential emergencies on our campus," the president said.
MSU's emergency site may be viewed at http://www.emergency.msstate.edu/.
For more information about Mississippi State University, see http://www.msstate.edu/.