Rice
Emergency Communication — Rice Alert / Clery Act Compliance (Policy 844)
Rice Alert is Rice University's emergency notification system, built on the Everbridge platform, which the Office of Emergency Management uses to push critical information by text, email, and updates to emergency.rice.edu when a confirmed significant emergency threatens the health or safety of the campus community. Under Rice's Clery Act Compliance policy, the Rice University Police Department determines when timely warnings and emergency notifications are necessary, while the President has delegated authority to declare a campus emergency to the Executive Vice President for Operations, Finance, & Support.
Read the official policyInstitution
Rice University
Private R1 · TX
~8,973 studentsRice Alert
In the policy’s own words
What the policy says
Activation criteriaverbatim
Upon confirmation of a significant emergency or dangerous situation occurring on the campus and involving an immediate threat to the health or safety of students, faculty, or staff members, Rice University will provide accurate and timely information to the campus community during such emergencies.
- — Adopts the Clery emergency-notification standard, extending the protected population explicitly to students, faculty, and staff.
Automated system for sudden emergenciesverbatim
In the case of a severe weather emergency, an episode of campus violence, or another sudden emergency, Rice University will use an automated system to notify students, faculty, and staff of the nature of the emergency and of any steps the recipient should take to safeguard his or her personal welfare.
- — Names the event categories — severe weather, campus violence, or another sudden emergency — that prompt automated Rice Alert messaging.
Communication methodsverbatim
Rice may utilize a variety of communication methods, including text messaging to mobile phones, e-mail, voice mail, web pages, emergency hotlines, announcements via Rice's public address system, meetings in affected buildings, and announcements in the news media.
- — Enumerates the full channel toolkit beyond automated Rice Alert text/email, including public address and in-building meetings.
At a glance
How this policy works
- When it activates
- Upon confirmation of a significant emergency or dangerous situation occurring on the campus and involving an immediate threat to the health or safety of students, faculty, or staff members, Rice University will provide accurate and timely information to the campus community. In the case of a severe weather emergency, an episode of campus violence, or another sudden emergency, Rice will use an automated system to notify the community.
- Who decides
- The Rice University Police Department determines when timely warnings and emergency notifications are necessary and appropriate, with the Office of Public Affairs assisting in issuance. The President has delegated authority to the Executive Vice President for Operations, Finance, & Support to declare a campus emergency and oversee incident management, supported by the Incident Management Team.
- Timeliness standard
- Rice University will provide accurate and timely information to the campus community during emergencies, notifying students, faculty, and staff of the nature of the emergency and any steps the recipient should take to safeguard personal welfare.
- Emergency notification vs. timely warning
- Timely warnings are issued for Clery crimes; emergency notifications are issued upon confirmation of a significant emergency or dangerous situation involving an immediate threat to health or safety. RUPD administers the Clery Compliance Program; Public Affairs assists in issuing both notification types.
- Testing cadence
- The University periodically tests its emergency communications systems. Rice migrated to the Everbridge-based system and conducted publicized tests in early February 2018 and early February 2019.
- Scope & limits
- Rice Alert is reserved for confirmed significant emergencies or dangerous situations involving an immediate threat to the health or safety of the campus community. During emergencies Rice may also use voice mail, web pages, emergency hotlines, public-address announcements, in-building meetings, and the news media in addition to the automated Rice Alert text/email channels.
ChannelsSmsEmailWebsitePush NotificationPhone CallPa SystemSiren
Analysis
Reading the policy
Rice Alert is Rice University's automated mass-notification system, hosted on the Everbridge platform. Per Rice's Emergency Communication page, the activation standard mirrors Clery: "upon confirmation of a significant emergency or dangerous situation occurring on the campus and involving an immediate threat to the health or safety of students, faculty, or staff members, Rice University will provide accurate and timely information to the campus community during such emergencies." The university frames the system around sudden events — "in the case of a severe weather emergency, an episode of campus violence, or another sudden emergency, Rice University will use an automated system to notify students, faculty, and staff of the nature of the emergency and of any steps the recipient should take to safeguard his or her personal welfare."
Decision authority is split between operational confirmation and executive declaration. Under the Clery Act Compliance policy (Policy 844), the Rice University Police Department administers the university's Clery program, and the Office of Public Affairs assists RUPD in issuing timely warnings about Clery crimes and emergency notifications to the campus and surrounding community "when deemed by RUPD as necessary and appropriate." Separately, the President has delegated authority to the Executive Vice President for Operations, Finance, & Support to declare a campus emergency and oversee management of the incident, supported by the Incident Management Team, which develops the objectives, strategies, and tactics for incident and event management.
Delivery spans a broad channel set. Rice Alert uses text messaging to mobile phones, emails, and Rice University website updates found at emergency.rice.edu, and Everbridge supports a mobile app for receiving Rice Alert plus additional safety applications. Rice's broader emergency-response statement lists an even wider toolkit available during emergencies: text messaging to mobile phones, e-mail, voice mail, web pages, emergency hotlines, announcements via Rice's public address system, meetings in affected buildings, and announcements in the news media.
In Clery framing, Rice distinguishes timely warnings — issued for Clery crimes — from emergency notifications for confirmed significant emergencies or dangerous situations posing an immediate threat to health or safety. The university periodically tests its emergency communications systems; Rice Alert was migrated to the Everbridge platform and tested in early 2018 and again in early 2019 per Rice's own announcements.
Takeaways
Key findings
Rice Alert is Rice University's automated emergency notification system, built on the Everbridge platform, delivering text, email, and emergency.rice.edu website updates plus an Everbridge mobile app.
Activation requires confirmation of a significant emergency or dangerous situation involving an immediate threat to the health or safety of students, faculty, or staff — the Clery emergency-notification standard.
RUPD determines when timely warnings and emergency notifications are necessary and appropriate, with Public Affairs assisting; the President delegated campus-emergency declaration authority to the EVP for Operations, Finance, & Support.
Beyond Rice Alert, Rice's emergency toolkit includes voice mail, web pages, emergency hotlines, public-address announcements, in-building meetings, and the news media.
The university periodically tests its emergency communications systems and publicized Everbridge-based tests in February 2018 and February 2019.
Policy, meet practice
When this system actually fired
8 documented times Rice’s alert system was used, from the case archive.
Provenance
Sources
- Official
- Official
- Official
- Official
- Official
- Clery ASR
Tags
policyemergency-notificationtimely-warningrice-alerteverbridge
Added 2026-06-21Updated 2026-06-21Via ingestion