Harvard
Emergency Communication — MessageMe Emergency Notification System
Harvard University's primary emergency notification tool is MessageMe, an Everbridge-based system that pushes alerts to the campus community by email, text, and voice call. Per the Harvard University Police Department, select HUPD and Harvard Public Affairs & Communications staff — directed by the University's Crisis Management Team — initiate MessageMe "without delay" upon confirmation of an immediate threat occurring on campus.
Read the official policyInstitution
Harvard University
Private R1 · MA
~25,266 studentsMessageMe
In the policy’s own words
What the policy says
Decision authority and without-delay standardverbatim
Select members of HUPD and/or Harvard Public Affairs & Communications (HPAC), under the direction of the University's Crisis Management Team, will, without delay and taking into account the safety of the community, determine the content of any emergency notification as well as the appropriate segment of the community to receive it and will initiate the MessageMe system, unless issuing a notification will, in the professional judgment of responsible authorities, compromise efforts to assist a victim or to contain, respond to or otherwise mitigate the emergency.
- — Reproduced identically across HUPD Emergency Communication search snippets; establishes who authorizes a MessageMe notification, the without-delay timing standard, and the Clery mitigation exception.
MessageMe as primary tool and contact pathsverbatim
MessageMe is the University's primary tool for sending emergency notifications to members of the campus community.
- — Identifies MessageMe as the primary emergency-notification tool; the same page states alerts go out "through three main contact paths; email, text and voice call."
Automatic enrollmentverbatim
All active faculty, staff, students, and other community members who are likely to be on campus are automatically enrolled in the system with their primary email address as the default contact path.
- — Establishes the automatic, default-email enrollment model; reproduced consistently across MessageMe and HUPD official snippets.
Emergency-notification trigger and timely-warning overlapreconstructed
If the University issues an emergency notification, then it is not required to issue a timely warning based on the same circumstances; however, the University will provide follow-up information to the community as needed.
- — Captures the Clery overlap rule between emergency notifications and timely warnings; surfaced via an official HUPD search snippet (host 403-blocks direct fetch), so flagged as not byte-confirmed.
At a glance
How this policy works
- When it activates
- MessageMe emergency notifications are issued upon confirmation that there is an immediate threat to the health or safety of students or staff occurring on campus; timely warnings are issued separately by HUPD for Clery Act crimes within Harvard's Clery geography that represent a serious or continuing threat.
- Who decides
- Select members of HUPD and/or Harvard Public Affairs & Communications (HPAC), under the direction of the University's Crisis Management Team, determine the content and recipients of any emergency notification and initiate MessageMe.
- Timeliness standard
- Officials will act "without delay and taking into account the safety of the community," subject to the Clery mitigation exception (no notice if issuing it would, in the professional judgment of responsible authorities, compromise efforts to assist a victim or to contain, respond to, or mitigate the emergency).
- Emergency notification vs. timely warning
- Two-track Clery model: emergency notifications via MessageMe for confirmed immediate threats occurring on campus; timely warnings for Clery-reportable crimes posing a serious or continuing threat. Issuing an emergency notification removes the obligation to issue a timely warning on the same circumstances, with follow-up information provided as needed.
- Testing cadence
- Harvard conducts a yearly test of the MessageMe system to assess its emergency response plans and capabilities; tests may be announced or unannounced.
- Scope & limits
- All active faculty, staff, students, and other community members likely to be on campus are automatically enrolled, with primary email as the default contact path; text and voice paths are added by the user. Alerts are limited to email, text, and voice call via MessageMe.
ChannelsEmailSmsPhone CallWebsite
Analysis
Reading the policy
Harvard describes MessageMe as "the University's primary tool for sending emergency notifications to members of the campus community," delivering alerts "through three main contact paths; email, text and voice call." The system is built on Everbridge — Harvard administers MessageMe through Everbridge's manager.everbridge.net console — and members of the community manage their contact paths at messageme.harvard.edu. Enrollment is automatic: "All active faculty, staff, students, and other community members who are likely to be on campus are automatically enrolled in the system with their primary email address as the default contact path," and users can add text and voice numbers by updating their MessageMe profile.
**Decision authority and timing.** Harvard's published policy assigns activation to a defined set of officials under centralized direction: "Select members of HUPD and/or Harvard Public Affairs & Communications (HPAC), under the direction of the University's Crisis Management Team, will, without delay and taking into account the safety of the community, determine the content of any emergency notification as well as the appropriate segment of the community to receive it and will initiate the MessageMe system, unless issuing a notification will, in the professional judgment of responsible authorities, compromise efforts to assist a victim or to contain, respond to or otherwise mitigate the emergency." This language mirrors the Clery Act's emergency-notification standard, including the standard mitigation exception that allows withholding a notice when issuing it would compromise the emergency response.
**Clery framing.** Harvard operates the conventional two-track model. Emergency notifications via MessageMe are reserved for an "immediate threat to the health or safety of students or staff occurring on campus," while timely warnings are issued by HUPD for Clery Act crimes occurring within Harvard's Clery geography that are reported to authorities and "represent a serious or continuing threat to students and employees." Harvard also notes the overlap rule: "If the University issues an emergency notification, then it is not required to issue a timely warning based on the same circumstances; however, the University will provide follow-up information to the community as needed."
**Testing.** Consistent with Clery, Harvard conducts a yearly test of the MessageMe system to evaluate its emergency response plans and capabilities; per the University's published materials these tests "may be announced or unannounced." The platform/vendor is Everbridge.
Takeaways
Key findings
MessageMe is Harvard's primary emergency notification system, delivering alerts by email, text, and voice call.
MessageMe runs on the Everbridge platform (administered via manager.everbridge.net); the community manages contact paths at messageme.harvard.edu.
Authority to initiate a notification rests with select HUPD and HPAC staff under the direction of the University's Crisis Management Team, acting 'without delay' subject to the Clery mitigation exception.
Enrollment is automatic for active faculty, staff, students, and others likely to be on campus, with primary email as the default contact path.
Harvard runs a yearly test of MessageMe (announced or unannounced) and follows the standard Clery two-track model of emergency notifications vs. timely warnings.
Policy, meet practice
When this system actually fired
13 documented times Harvard’s alert system was used, from the case archive.
+ 5 more in the case archive.
Provenance
Sources
- Official
- Official
- Official
- Official
Tags
policyemergency-notificationtimely-warningmassachusettseverbridgeivy-league
Added 2026-06-21Updated 2026-06-21Via ingestion