{
  "id": "2023-11-20-george-washington-university-fall-test",
  "slug": "george-washington-university-fall-test-2023-11-20",
  "institution": {
    "name": "George Washington University",
    "shortName": "GW",
    "state": "DC",
    "type": "private-r1",
    "alertSystemName": "GW Alert",
    "enrollment": 26000
  },
  "incident": {
    "date": "2023-11-20",
    "type": "other",
    "cleryCategory": "test",
    "headline": "Fourteen Words Before Thanksgiving: GW's Annual Proof That the Alert System Still Works",
    "summary": "George Washington University ran its [semiannual test of GW Alert](https://campusadvisories.gwu.edu/fall-2025-test-gws-emergency-communication-systems), the university's emergency communication system, at 2:12 p.m. EST on Monday, November 20, 2023. The [test message](https://x.com/GWAlert/status/1726679939326288079), 'GW is TESTING its emergency communication systems. This is a TEST. No action is necessary,' went out simultaneously by text, email, and social media as part of GW's twice-yearly Clery-required exercise of the system's reach.",
    "outcome": "The test satisfied GW's semiannual emergency-communication testing routine, run each fall and spring to confirm the system reaches students, faculty, and staff across every channel.",
    "resolution": "unfounded"
  },
  "alerts": [
    {
      "sequence": 1,
      "type": "initial",
      "timestamp": "2023-11-20T14:12:00-05:00",
      "channel": "twitter-x",
      "verbatimText": "GW is TESTING its emergency communication systems. This is a TEST. No action is necessary. For more information about GW’s emergency communication systems go to https://t.co/6FsXuqQv16. Thank you.",
      "isVerbatimConfirmed": true,
      "sourceUrl": "https://x.com/GWAlert/status/1726679939326288079",
      "sourceDescription": "@GWAlert official X/Twitter account, posted simultaneously with the identical GW Alert text message and email sent at 2:12 p.m. EST on November 20, 2023",
      "annotations": [
        "The all-caps 'TESTING' and 'TEST' are deliberately repeated within a single short message, a design choice meant to prevent any reader from mistaking the notification for a real emergency",
        "Unlike a real GW Alert, this test message includes a link back to GW's emergency communications information page rather than any protective-action instruction",
        "GW Alert simultaneously reaches email, cell-phone text messages, campus phones, social media, and the university website, so this X/Twitter post is one channel among several that carried identical wording",
        "GW runs this test twice a year, in the fall and spring semesters, exercising the same Clery Act annual-testing requirement documented elsewhere in this archive at other universities"
      ],
      "characterCount": 196
    }
  ],
  "context": "The Clery Act requires colleges and universities to test their emergency-notification systems at least once a year and to publicize the results. George Washington University exceeds that minimum, running a [test of GW Alert each fall and spring semester](https://campusadvisories.gwu.edu/fall-2025-test-gws-emergency-communication-systems). On Monday, November 20, 2023, at 2:12 p.m. EST, the [university's official GW Alert account posted the test message](https://x.com/GWAlert/status/1726679939326288079) on X/Twitter at the same moment it went out by text, email, and other GW Alert channels: 'GW is TESTING its emergency communication systems. This is a TEST. No action is necessary.' GW Alert is designed to reach [e-mail addresses, cell phones, institutional and residence-hall IP desk phones, social media, and university web pages](https://it.gwu.edu/mass-communications-and-emergency-notifications) in a real emergency, so the semiannual test is GW's way of confirming every one of those channels still fires correctly before it is ever needed for an actual threat. The case is a clean reference point for what a routine, successful, non-eventful system test looks like, in contrast to the accidental live activations and drill mishaps documented elsewhere in this archive.",
  "keyFindings": [
    "GW tests its emergency communication system twice a year, fall and spring, exceeding the Clery Act's minimum annual-testing requirement",
    "The verbatim test message repeats the word 'TEST' twice in fourteen words, a deliberate redundancy meant to eliminate any ambiguity about whether the notification is real",
    "The same message posted to X/Twitter went out simultaneously across GW's other channels, including SMS, email, and campus phones",
    "A clean, uneventful system test stands in useful contrast to the accidental live-alert activations documented elsewhere in this archive"
  ],
  "sources": [
    {
      "title": "GW Alert on X: 'GW is TESTING its emergency communication systems...'",
      "url": "https://x.com/GWAlert/status/1726679939326288079",
      "type": "official-social"
    },
    {
      "title": "Fall 2025 Test of GW's Emergency Communication Systems - Campus Advisories, The George Washington University",
      "url": "https://campusadvisories.gwu.edu/fall-2025-test-gws-emergency-communication-systems",
      "type": "official-archive"
    },
    {
      "title": "Mass Communications and Emergency Notifications - GW Information Technology",
      "url": "https://it.gwu.edu/mass-communications-and-emergency-notifications",
      "type": "official-archive"
    }
  ],
  "confidence": "high",
  "tags": [
    "system-test",
    "drill",
    "washington-dc",
    "gw-alert",
    "semiannual-test",
    "clery-test",
    "multi-channel",
    "2023"
  ],
  "dateAdded": "2026-07-03",
  "lastUpdated": "2026-07-03",
  "addedBy": "ingestion"
}