HawCC
University of Hawaiʻi at Hilo and Hawaiʻi Community College Emergency Operations Plan
Hawaiʻi Community College shares a single, campus-adjacent Emergency Operations Plan with the University of Hawaiʻi at Hilo, most recently finalized April 24, 2013, which the college describes as providing the guidance to organize and direct the college's operations during an emergency or civil-defense event under University of Hawaiʻi APM A-9.700; alerts reach the campus through UH Alert (email, text, and social media) alongside EOC-issued situation updates.
Read the official policy~2,400 studentsUH Alert (UH Rave Alert)
In the policy’s own words
What the policy says
Purpose and authoritynot yet verified against the source
The policy addresses this topic; its exact wording has not yet been verified against the source, so no text is quoted here. Open the official policy to read it.
UH Hilo / Hawaiʻi Community College EOP, Purpose and Authority page (captured via search-engine reproduction; hilo.hawaii.edu blocks automated direct fetch)Scheduled EOC situation updatesnot yet verified against the source
The policy addresses this topic; its exact wording has not yet been verified against the source, so no text is quoted here. Open the official policy to read it.
UH Hilo / Hawaiʻi Community College EOP, Emergency Operations Plan overview page (captured via search-engine reproduction; hilo.hawaii.edu blocks automated direct fetch)At a glance
How this policy works
- When it activates
- The EOP shall provide the necessary guidance to organize and direct the college's and UH Hilo's operations in the event of an emergency and/or civil defense action that may be necessary, per University of Hawaiʻi APM A-9.700. As a Clery institution, HawCC separately follows the federal standards for emergency notifications and timely warnings.
- Who decides
- The Incident Commander/Plan Director is the UH Hilo Vice Chancellor for Administrative Affairs, who is responsible for updating and maintaining the EOP, distributing revisions, and directing the Emergency Operations Center (EOC) response once activated.
- Timeliness standard
- Emergency information is sent periodically to email and cell-phone (text) accounts via UH Alert as details become available; following an initial notification, the EOC is directed to issue update notifications at 6 a.m., 12 noon, and 6 p.m., or more frequently as required by conditions.
- Emergency notification vs. timely warning
- Standard federal two-track distinction applies (timely warning vs. emergency notification); the shared EOP itself is framed around civil-defense and all-hazards operational coordination between UH Hilo and Hawaiʻi Community College rather than Clery-specific notification language.
- Testing cadence
- Campus staff with emergency-management assignments are expected to review the plan regularly and participate in evacuation drills and training/exercise programs; a single fixed, published testing date or frequency was not confirmed in the sources reviewed.
- Scope & limits
- The EOP is a joint document covering both UH Hilo and Hawaiʻi Community College given their adjoining campuses, rather than a HawCC-only plan; after-hours contact relies on home telephone numbers for designated personnel kept on file at the Auxiliary Services/Campus Security office rather than a fully automated after-hours escalation.
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Analysis
Reading the policy
Hawaiʻi Community College sits on land adjoining the University of Hawaiʻi at Hilo campus, and the two institutions plan jointly: their Emergency Operations Plan (EOP) is a single shared document, first issued in September 2012 and finalized in a later revision dated April 24, 2013. Per the plan's own purpose and authority section, the EOP shall provide the necessary guidance to organize and direct the campuses' operation in the event of an emergency and/or civil-defense action, a mandate the plan traces back to University of Hawaiʻi Administrative Procedure A-9.700, Plan for Emergency and Civil Defense Events.
Decision authority runs through a named Incident Commander/Plan Director role, held by the UH Hilo Vice Chancellor for Administrative Affairs, who is responsible for updating and maintaining the EOP and distributing revisions as they are made; an Emergency Operations Center (EOC) is stood up to coordinate the institutional response once the plan is activated. Notification to the combined campus community runs on parallel channels: emergency information is sent periodically to faculty, staff, and student email accounts and by cell-phone text message through UH Alert, with the same information posted to the UH Hilo home page and to the campuses' Twitter and Facebook accounts. Once an emergency notification goes out, the EOC does not stop at one message: the plan calls for follow-up situation updates at fixed points in the day (6 a.m., 12 noon, and 6 p.m.), or more frequently if conditions require it, so the community isn't left without fresh information as an incident develops.
The plan also addresses the seam between business hours and nights/weekends, an important gap for a two-campus commuter-heavy system: home telephone numbers for designated emergency-response personnel are kept on file at the Auxiliary Services/Campus Security office specifically so an after-hours emergency can still reach the right people. Campus staff assigned emergency-management responsibilities are expected to review the plan regularly and to participate in evacuation drills and training/exercise programs, though a single fixed annual testing date was not confirmed in this review.
As a Title IV, Clery-covered institution, HawCC is bound by the standard federal framework: emergency notifications upon confirmation of a significant emergency or dangerous situation, and timely warnings for Clery-reportable crimes representing a continuing threat. Hawaiʻi's geography (volcanic activity from Kīlauea, tsunami exposure, and hurricane risk) makes the shared EOP's civil-defense integration especially load-bearing; because hawaii.hawaii.edu and hilo.hawaii.edu block automated direct fetching of their PDFs, the excerpts below are drawn from search-engine reproductions of the EOP's published purpose-and-authority and organization pages rather than a directly confirmed copy of the document.
Takeaways
Key findings
Hawaiʻi Community College and the University of Hawaiʻi at Hilo share a single Emergency Operations Plan, first issued September 2012 and finalized April 24, 2013, reflecting their adjoining campuses.
Decision authority for updating and directing the plan sits with the UH Hilo Vice Chancellor for Administrative Affairs, acting as Incident Commander/Plan Director over the Emergency Operations Center.
The EOP commits to a fixed post-notification update cadence (6 a.m., 12 noon, 6 p.m.), a specific, checkable timeliness standard beyond the initial alert.
After-hours response relies on home telephone numbers for designated personnel kept on file at Auxiliary Services/Campus Security, addressing the gap between business hours and nights/weekends.
hawaii.hawaii.edu and hilo.hawaii.edu block automated direct fetching, so excerpts here are search-engine reproductions rather than a directly confirmed copy; confidence is rated medium.
Policy, meet practice
When this system actually fired
6 documented times HawCC’s alert system was used, from the case archive.
Provenance
Sources
- Official
- Official
- Official
- Official
Tags
policyemergency-notificationtimely-warningemergency-operations-planhawaiicommunity-collegeuh-alertcivil-defensetsunamivolcanic-activity
Added 2026-07-03Updated 2026-07-03Via ingestion