SDSU
SDSU Emergency Notification and Timely Warning Policy (2025 Annual Security Report)
SDSU Alert is San Diego State University's emergency-notification platform, sending SMS text, @sdsu.edu email, and SDSU Safe app push notifications only when there is an imminent threat to people or infrastructure; the criteria, decision authority, and testing cadence are governed by the SDSU University Police 2025 Annual Security Report under the Clery Act.
Read the official policyInstitution
San Diego State University
Public R1 · CA
~41,184 studentsSDSU Alert
In the policy’s own words
What the policy says
When SDSU Alert is usedverbatim
Generally, notifications are sent only when there is an imminent threat to people or infrastructure, to include the sending of Clery notices or a change in university operations.
- — Sets a high bar ('imminent threat to people or infrastructure') and ties the channel to both Clery notices and operational-status changes.
Emergency-notification confirmation standardverbatim
SDSU has procedures to immediately notify the campus community upon the confirmation of a significant emergency or dangerous situation involving an immediate threat to the health or safety of students and/or employees occurring on the campus, as required by the Clery Act.
- — Tracks the federal Clery emergency-notification language verbatim ('confirmation', 'significant emergency or dangerous situation', 'immediate threat').
Decision authority transmits without delayverbatim
Once the notification is prepared, the Chief of Police and/or the Clery Director (or their management designee) will, without delay and considering the safety of the community, transmit the emergency notification, unless doing so would delay the ability to mitigate and/or contain the emergency – including the ability to provide immediate, life-saving measures.
- — Names the decision authority (Chief of Police and/or Clery Director) and embeds the standard Clery 'without delay' obligation plus the containment exception.
Twice-yearly testing cadenceverbatim
The SDSU Emergency Communications System is tested in the first month of the fall and spring academic semesters.
- — More frequent than the generic 'at least once annually' minimum — SDSU tests at the start of both fall and spring terms.
At a glance
How this policy works
- When it activates
- SDSU Alert is used only when there is an imminent threat to people or infrastructure, including the sending of Clery notices or a change in university operations. Under the Clery Act, an emergency notification is issued upon confirmation of a significant emergency or dangerous situation involving an immediate threat to the health or safety of students and/or employees occurring on the campus. A separate Timely Warning Crime Bulletin is issued only when a CSA report includes a Clery crime, on Clery geography, with a discernible serious or ongoing threat.
- Who decides
- Emergency notifications: the Chief of Police and/or the Clery Director (or their management designee). Timely warnings: the Chief of Police (or management designee) holds ultimate authority over whether to issue; the Clery Director completes and documents the case-by-case analysis and confers with the Chief on distribution method.
- Timeliness standard
- The Chief of Police and/or Clery Director (or management designee) will, without delay and considering the safety of the community, transmit the emergency notification, unless doing so would delay the ability to mitigate and/or contain the emergency.
- Emergency notification vs. timely warning
- Emergency notifications (SDSU Alert) and timely warnings (Timely Warning Crime Bulletins) are handled as distinct Clery obligations. A timely warning requires all three elements — a Clery crime, on Clery geography, and a discernible serious or ongoing threat; absent any one, none is issued.
- Testing cadence
- The SDSU Emergency Communications System is tested in the first month of the fall and spring academic semesters (twice per year).
- Scope & limits
- Notification may be withheld if transmitting it would delay the ability to mitigate and/or contain the emergency, including the ability to provide immediate, life-saving measures. Text notifications require a current cell phone number on file; SDSU Safe push notifications require installing the app. Timely warnings are limited to Clery crimes on Clery geography that pose a serious or ongoing threat.
ChannelsSmsEmailPush NotificationWebsite
Analysis
Reading the policy
San Diego State University delivers Clery emergency notifications through SDSU Alert, described on the university's urgent-information site as a system used 'only when there is an imminent threat to people or infrastructure, to include the sending of Clery notices or a change in university operations.' Notifications are sent automatically: students receive them at their @sdsu.edu email address and, if a mobile number is on file, by text message, while the free SDSU Safe app (Apple/Android) provides instant push notifications. The system is jointly operated by the university's communications team and the SDSU University Police Department.
The Clery framework behind the system is laid out in the SDSU University Police 2025 Annual Security Report. SDSU follows the standard Clery emergency-notification trigger — confirmation of a significant emergency or dangerous situation involving an immediate threat to the health or safety of students and/or employees occurring on the campus. The decision authority and timeliness obligation rest with the Chief of Police and/or the Clery Director (or their management designee), who 'will, without delay and considering the safety of the community, transmit the emergency notification, unless doing so would delay the ability to mitigate and/or contain the emergency.' This preserves the Clery exception that allows notification to be withheld when it would compromise efforts to contain the emergency or provide immediate, life-saving measures.
SDSU keeps emergency notifications distinct from Clery timely warnings (issued as Timely Warning Crime Bulletins). Per the ASR, a timely warning is issued only when a campus-security-authority report includes all three elements — a Clery crime, on Clery geography, and a discernible serious or ongoing threat; in the absence of any of the three, no timely warning is issued. The Chief of Police (or management designee) holds ultimate authority over whether to issue a timely warning, with the Clery Director completing and documenting the case-by-case analysis and conferring with the Chief on the most appropriate method(s) of distribution.
For testing, SDSU diverges from the generic CSU template language: the ASR states that the SDSU Emergency Communications System is tested in the first month of the fall and spring academic semesters, giving the campus a predictable twice-yearly verification cadence rather than a single annual drill. Because SDSU's official .edu and urgent.sdsu.edu hosts return HTTP 403 to automated fetching in this environment, the verbatim excerpts below were captured from official SDSU page and ASR text as reproduced in search results and corroborated across multiple independent queries; remaining detail is paraphrased.
Takeaways
Key findings
SDSU Alert is sent only on an imminent threat to people or infrastructure, including Clery notices and operational-status changes; it reaches the campus by @sdsu.edu email, SMS text, and SDSU Safe app push notifications, with students automatically enrolled.
The emergency-notification trigger follows the Clery standard — confirmation of a significant emergency or dangerous situation with an immediate threat to health or safety on campus.
Decision authority and the 'without delay' timeliness obligation rest with the Chief of Police and/or the Clery Director (or management designee), subject to the containment/life-saving exception.
Timely warnings (Timely Warning Crime Bulletins) are a separate Clery track requiring all three elements — a Clery crime, on Clery geography, with a discernible serious or ongoing threat; the Chief of Police holds ultimate authority and the Clery Director documents the analysis.
SDSU tests its Emergency Communications System twice a year — in the first month of both the fall and spring semesters — exceeding the generic annual-testing minimum.
Policy, meet practice
When this system actually fired
6 documented times SDSU’s alert system was used, from the case archive.
Provenance
Sources
- Official
- Clery ASR
- Official
- Official
- Official
Tags
policyemergency-notificationtimely-warningclery-actsdsu-alertpublic-r1californiacsu
Added 2026-06-21Updated 2026-06-21Via ingestion