CougarAlert Emergency Notification and Timely Warning Policy

When an emergency occurs, the CougarAlert system can deliver email, text, and voice messages to students and employees within 90 seconds.

• Named brand with explicit delivery latency and channel mix.

CougarAlerts are issued during emergencies that necessitate unscheduled campus or district closures or evacuations. These include, but are not limited to, weather-related closures, power outages, police emergencies, catastrophes, and hazardous exposures. CougarAlerts will not be used for promotional purposes or for scheduled closures, such as holidays.

• Institution-specific when-to-send list and explicit exclusions.

In addition to CougarAlerts, Collin College shares emergency and closure information on its website and official social media channels.

• Companion public channels beyond the subscription system.

Collin College employees and students enrolled in for-credit or dual credit classes are automatically subscribed with their Collin email and primary phone number.

• Automatic enrollment rule for core populations.

In compliance with the Clery Act, Collin College is committed to ensuring its community receives timely, accurate, and useful information in the event of a significant emergency or dangerous situation occurring on campus or in the local area that poses an immediate threat to the health and safety of Collin College students, faculty, and/or staff.

• Clery emergency-notification framing.

Collin College will immediately notify the campus community upon confirmation of a significant emergency or dangerous situation involving an immediate threat to the health or safety of students, faculty, and/or staff occurring on campus.

• Immediate-notify timing standard.

CougarAlert is Collin College’s official emergency notification system, providing critical information to the entire Collin College community via text message, phone message, and/or email.

• Cross-page brand confirmation and channel list.

In compliance with the Clery Act, in the event a Clery Act crime occurs within Collin College’s Clery Act geography that, in the judgment of the Collin College Police Department, constitutes a serious or continuing threat to members of the Collin College community, a timely warning notice will be issued.

• Police-judgment serious/continuing-threat standard.

Timely warning notices, including official updates to and discontinuance of timely warning notices, will always be sent through CougarAlert and posted on the college website.

• Mandatory dual-channel dissemination for timely warnings.