Carleton
CarlAlert Emergency Notification and Timely Warning Policy (Annual Security and Fire Safety Report)
Carleton College issues emergency notifications through CarlAlert, branded on the Everbridge Mass Notification System, to notify the community of time-sensitive information involving an immediate threat to health and safety. Per its Annual Security and Fire Safety Report, Security Services and the Dean of Students determine when to issue both emergency notifications and Clery Act Timely Warning Notices.
Read the official policyInstitution
Carleton College
Private Liberal Arts · MN
~2,000 studentsCarlAlert
In the policy’s own words
What the policy says
Everbridge / CarlAlert system and activation thresholdverbatim
Carleton College uses the Everbridge Mass Notification System (branded as CarlAlert) to notify students, faculty, and staff with time sensitive information involving an immediate threat to their health and safety.
- — Confirms the vendor (Everbridge) and brand (CarlAlert) and sets the activation threshold at an immediate threat to health and safety. Identical wording was extracted from the 2023, 2024, and 2025 ASR PDFs.
Timing standard + decision authorityverbatim
Upon confirmation of a significant threat, emergency, or dangerous situation on campus, the College without delay and considering the safety of the community, will initiate the campus emergency notification system. The Dean of Students, Director of Security or their designee reviews information that is reported to Security Services by members of the community, by Campus Security Authorities and by the Northfield Police to determine if a reported crime poses a serious on-going threat to members of the Carleton Community and if the distribution of a Timely Warning Notice is warranted.
- — States the 'without delay, upon confirmation' timing standard and names the Dean of Students / Director of Security (or designee) as the reviewing authority, including the Northfield Police as an information source. Identical wording was extracted from the 2023, 2024, and 2025 ASR PDFs.
Emergency-notification authority and channelsverbatim
The offices of Security Services, External Relations, Dean of Students, and the President are authorized to determine the content and issue emergency notifications. CarlAlert uses e-mail, text messaging, social media and campus message boards to broadcast pertinent information, and when appropriate provides directions to those in affected areas. Carleton's CarlAlert Emergency Notification service is an "opt-out" benefit.
- — Lists the four authorizing offices, the four delivery channels (email, SMS, social media, campus message boards), and the opt-out enrollment default. Identical wording was extracted from the 2023, 2024, and 2025 ASR PDFs.
Timely Warning Clery scopeverbatim
Timely Warning Notices are usually distributed for Clery Act crimes and may also be posted for other crime classifications depending on the facts of the case and the information known by Security Services.
- — Defines the scope of Timely Warning Notices (Clery crimes, plus other classifications case-by-case). Identical wording was extracted from the 2023, 2024, and 2025 ASR PDFs.
Public-safety-alert distribution channelsverbatim
If circumstances warrant, public safety alerts are prepared and distributed through the Security department website, text messaging, electronic mail, and/or posted in selected locations throughout campus.
- — Describes the broader public-safety-alert channels: Security website, SMS, email, and physical campus postings. Identical wording was extracted from the 2023, 2024, and 2025 ASR PDFs.
Testing cadence (edition change)verbatim
The CarlAlert system is tested three times during each academic year.
- — The 2023 and 2024 ASRs state CarlAlert is tested three times per academic year; the 2025 corrected ASR revised this to 'tested each academic year.' This excerpt quotes the 2024 edition verbatim and the change is documented in the testingCadence field.
At a glance
How this policy works
- When it activates
- Upon confirmation of a significant threat, emergency, or dangerous situation on campus, the College without delay (considering the safety of the community) initiates the campus emergency notification system. Timely Warning Notices are issued when a reported crime poses a serious on-going threat to the Carleton community, usually for Clery Act crimes.
- Who decides
- The Dean of Students, Director of Security, or their designee reviews reported information to determine whether a Timely Warning is warranted; for emergency notifications, the offices of Security Services, External Relations, Dean of Students, and the President are authorized to determine content and issue notifications. This is stated verbatim in Carleton's Annual Security and Fire Safety Report.
- Timeliness standard
- Carleton's ASR states that upon confirmation of a significant threat, emergency, or dangerous situation, the College 'without delay and considering the safety of the community, will initiate the campus emergency notification system' — the federal Clery 'without delay, upon confirmation' standard.
- Emergency notification vs. timely warning
- Carleton keeps the two Clery functions distinct: CarlAlert (Everbridge) emergency notifications for immediate threats to health and safety, and Timely Warning Notices for Clery Act crimes that pose a serious ongoing threat (and, depending on the facts, other crime classifications). Carleton publishes an Annual Security and Fire Safety Report (its Annual Clery Report).
- Testing cadence
- The CarlAlert system testing cadence is stated in the ASR. The 2023 and 2024 editions (CY2022/CY2023) read 'The CarlAlert system is tested three times during each academic year'; the 2025 corrected edition (CY2024) revised this to 'The CarlAlert system is tested each academic year.' A 'severe weather awareness week' detail circulating elsewhere could not be corroborated in any ASR and is excluded.
- Scope & limits
- CarlAlert is an opt-out benefit, so community members are enrolled by default; reach via personal cell/SMS depends on contact information members maintain. A companion CarlAlert Safety App can deliver alerts even when cellular/SMS service is down. No outdoor siren or voice/phone-call channel appears in Carleton's official text.
ChannelsEmailSmsTwitter XFacebookDigital SignageWebsitePush Notification
Analysis
Reading the policy
Carleton College is a small private liberal-arts college in Northfield, Minnesota whose emergency-notification system is branded CarlAlert — one word — and runs on Everbridge, not (as is sometimes assumed) the Rave platform; the Rave association belongs to the unrelated Carleton University in Ottawa, Canada. Carleton's Annual Security and Fire Safety Report states plainly: 'Carleton College uses the Everbridge Mass Notification System (branded as CarlAlert) to notify students, faculty, and staff with time sensitive information involving an immediate threat to their health and safety.' The same core policy block appears byte-for-byte identical across Carleton's 2023, 2024, and 2025 ASR editions, which makes the wording unusually well-corroborated.
The activation and timing standard tracks the federal Clery language closely: 'Upon confirmation of a significant threat, emergency, or dangerous situation on campus, the College without delay and considering the safety of the community, will initiate the campus emergency notification system.' Crucially, Carleton names its decision authority explicitly — the same ASR sentence assigns review to 'The Dean of Students, Director of Security or their designee,' and the emergency-notification provision adds that 'The offices of Security Services, External Relations, Dean of Students, and the President are authorized to determine the content and issue emergency notifications.' That named, multi-office authority structure is exactly the kind of detail many smaller institutions leave vague.
On channels, the ASR is specific: 'CarlAlert uses e-mail, text messaging, social media and campus message boards to broadcast pertinent information, and when appropriate provides directions to those in affected areas.' Carleton also frames CarlAlert as an opt-out benefit — 'Carleton's CarlAlert Emergency Notification service is an "opt-out" benefit' — meaning community members are enrolled by default, which maximizes baseline reach. For public-safety alerts and timely warnings more broadly, the report states they 'are prepared and distributed through the Security department website, text messaging, electronic mail, and/or posted in selected locations throughout campus.' Timely warnings are framed around Clery crimes: 'Timely Warning Notices are usually distributed for Clery Act crimes and may also be posted for other crime classifications depending on the facts of the case and the information known by Security Services.'
One field changed between editions, which the archive records honestly. The testing-cadence sentence read 'The CarlAlert system is tested three times during each academic year' in the 2023 and 2024 ASRs (covering CY2022 and CY2023), but the 2025 corrected ASR (CY2024) revised it to 'The CarlAlert system is tested each academic year.' Both versions are quoted from official documents; a separately-circulating 'severe weather awareness week' detail could not be corroborated in any ASR and is excluded. No outdoor siren or voice/phone-call channel appears in Carleton's official text. Five excerpts are marked verbatim-confirmed because they were extracted from the ASR PDF text and matched identically across multiple ASR editions.
Takeaways
Key findings
Carleton's emergency-notification system is branded CarlAlert (one word) and runs on the Everbridge Mass Notification System — not Rave; the Rave association belongs to the unrelated Carleton University in Ottawa.
CarlAlert is reserved for time-sensitive information involving an immediate threat to health and safety and is initiated 'without delay' upon confirmation of a significant threat, emergency, or dangerous situation.
Decision authority is explicitly named: the Dean of Students, Director of Security, or designee review timely warnings, and Security Services, External Relations, Dean of Students, and the President are authorized to issue emergency notifications.
Channels are email, text messaging, social media, and campus message boards (plus Security website and physical postings for broader public-safety alerts); CarlAlert is an opt-out benefit, so members are enrolled by default.
Policy wording was confirmed verbatim across three ASR editions (2023, 2024, 2025) extracted directly from PDF text; the only edition change is the test cadence, which moved from 'three times during each academic year' to 'each academic year' in the 2025 corrected report.
Provenance
Sources
- Clery ASRCarleton College — 2024 Annual Security and Fire Safety Report (PDF)carleton-wp-production.s3.amazonaws.comarchived copy
- Clery ASRCarleton College — 2025 Annual Security and Fire Safety Report, Corrected (PDF)carleton-wp-production.s3.amazonaws.comarchived copy
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Tags
policyemergency-notificationtimely-warningprivate-liberal-artsminnesotacarlalerteverbridgeopt-out
Added 2026-06-21Updated 2026-06-21Via ingestion