SF State
SF State Emergency Notification System (SF State Alert) and Timely Warning Policy (2025 Annual Security Report)
SF State Alert is San Francisco State University's emergency-notification system, run through the University Police Department and Office of Emergency Services, that rapidly disseminates emergency information; it is mandatory for all SFSU email holders, and its Clery criteria, decision authority, 'without delay' timing, and at-least-annual testing are documented in the SF State 2025 Annual Security Report.
Read the official policyInstitution
San Francisco State University
Public R2 · CA
~22,563 studentsSF State Alert
In the policy’s own words
What the policy says
SF State Alert purposeverbatim
The San Francisco State University Emergency Notification System, also known as SF State Alert, is a communications tool designed to rapidly disseminate emergency information and instructions in an emergency that threatens the lives and/or property of the campus community.
- — Defines SF State Alert and states the triggering condition (an emergency that threatens the lives and/or property of the campus community).
Decision authority transmits without delayverbatim
Once the notification is prepared, the Chief of Police and/or the Clery Director (or their management designees) will, without delay and taking into account 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 Clery 'without delay' obligation plus the containment/life-saving exception.
Segmentation must not delay issuanceverbatim
Segmentation of notifications will be considered by the Chief of Police (or management designee) by evaluating which persons are likely to be at risk based on the circumstances at the time and notifying those persons. Segmentation should not be considered if making this determination would delay issuing the emergency notification.
- — Explains how the at-risk segment is identified and that targeting cannot be allowed to delay the notification.
Mandatory enrollment for email holdersverbatim
It is mandatory for all SFSU email holders to receive emails and notifications from the university in the event of any emergency. Additionally, any phone number linked to your campus email will also receive alerts from SF State Alert.
- — Confirms mandatory (effectively opt-out) enrollment for all SFSU email holders and that phone numbers linked to a campus email also receive SF State Alert messages.
At-least-annual testing requirementverbatim
Testing of the Emergency Notification System and evacuation will be done at least once annually. The tests may be announced or unannounced to ensure that new students, faculty, and staff will have the opportunity to become familiar with the process and fully participate.
- — States the minimum testing cadence (at least once annually) and the announced/unannounced testing rationale.
At a glance
How this policy works
- When it activates
- SF State Alert is activated for an emergency that threatens the lives and/or property of the campus community (e.g., natural disasters, safety threats, or campus closures). Under the Clery Act, an emergency notification is issued upon confirmation of a significant emergency or dangerous situation involving an immediate threat to health or safety; a separate Timely Warning is issued where facts constitute a serious or ongoing threat to the campus community.
- Who decides
- The Chief of Police and/or Clery Director (or management designee) prepares the content of the notification, determines which members of the campus community are threatened and need to be notified, and transmits the emergency notification. The Chief of Police (or management designee) decides segmentation. For timely warnings, the Clery Director and Chief of Police confer; the Clery Director's unavailability shall not unduly delay issuance.
- Timeliness standard
- Once the notification is prepared, the Chief of Police and/or the Clery Director (or their management designees) will, without delay and taking into account 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. Segmentation is not considered if making that determination would delay issuing the notification.
- Emergency notification vs. timely warning
- Emergency notifications (SF State Alert) and Timely Warnings are distinct Clery obligations. Both are documented in the Clery Act-mandated Annual Security Report; the Clery Director and Chief of Police confer to determine whether facts constitute a serious or ongoing threat, and the Clery Director's unavailability shall not unduly delay a Timely Warning.
- Testing cadence
- Testing of the Emergency Notification System and evacuation will be done at least once annually; tests may be announced or unannounced to give new students, faculty, and staff the opportunity to become familiar with the process.
- Scope & limits
- Notification may be withheld if transmitting it would delay the ability to mitigate and/or contain the emergency, including providing immediate, life-saving measures. The Chief of Police segments notifications to the at-risk community when doing so does not delay issuance. Enrollment is mandatory for all SFSU email holders, and any phone number linked to a campus email also receives alerts.
ChannelsEmailSmsPhone CallWebsite
Analysis
Reading the policy
San Francisco State University delivers Clery emergency notifications through SF State Alert, described in the 2025 Annual Security Report as a communications tool designed to rapidly disseminate emergency information and instructions in an emergency that threatens the lives and/or property of the campus community. The system is administered by the University Police Department in conjunction with the Office of Emergency Services. Enrollment is effectively automatic: per the Office of Emergency Services, it is mandatory for all SFSU email holders to receive emails and notifications from the university in the event of any emergency, and any phone number linked to a person's campus email will also receive SF State Alert messages (the OES page therefore cautions community members to use a phone number they do not mind receiving notifications on).
The ASR vests both content preparation and the timeliness obligation in named roles. Per the report, the Chief of Police and/or Clery Director (or management designee) will prepare the content of the notification and determine which members of the campus community are threatened and need to be notified, developing the message based on a careful but swift analysis of the most critical facts. The transmission standard mirrors the CSU systemwide framing: once the notification is prepared, the Chief of Police and/or the Clery Director (or their management designees) will, without delay and taking into account 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. The ASR also describes segmentation — the Chief of Police (or management designee) evaluates which persons are likely to be at risk based on the circumstances and notifies those persons, but segmentation is not considered if making that determination would delay issuing the emergency notification.
SF State keeps emergency notifications and Clery timely warnings as distinct obligations. The Clery Director and Chief of Police (or management designee) confer to analyze the known pertinent facts and determine whether they constitute a serious or ongoing threat to the campus community, with the ASR noting that the unavailability of the Clery Director shall not unduly delay the issuance of a Timely Warning. The report also states that the Chief of Police and/or Clery Director (or management designees) will provide updates to the emergency notification with pertinent updates or direction for safety as new information becomes available, at regular intervals until the emergency has been mitigated or no longer poses an imminent threat. For testing, the ASR states that testing of the Emergency Notification System and evacuation will be done at least once annually, and that tests may be announced or unannounced so new students, faculty, and staff can become familiar with the process.
Because SF State's official .edu hosts return HTTP 403 to automated fetching in this environment, the verbatim excerpts below were captured from official SF State ASR and Office of Emergency Services page text as reproduced in search results and corroborated across multiple independent queries; remaining detail is paraphrased.
Takeaways
Key findings
SF State Alert is the university's emergency-notification system, run through the University Police Department and Office of Emergency Services to rapidly disseminate emergency information that threatens the lives and/or property of the campus community.
Enrollment is mandatory for all SFSU email holders, and any phone number linked to a person's campus email also receives SF State Alert messages.
The Chief of Police and/or Clery Director (or designee) prepares content, identifies the threatened segment, and transmits the notification 'without delay' subject to the containment/life-saving exception; segmentation may not delay issuance.
Emergency notifications and Timely Warnings are distinct Clery obligations; the Clery Director's unavailability shall not unduly delay a Timely Warning, and updates continue at regular intervals until the emergency is mitigated.
The Emergency Notification System and evacuation are tested at least once annually, with tests announced or unannounced, per the 2025 Annual Security Report.
Policy, meet practice
When this system actually fired
3 documented times SF State’s alert system was used, from the case archive.
Provenance
Sources
- Official
- Clery ASR
- Official
- Clery ASR
Tags
policyemergency-notificationtimely-warningclery-actsf-state-alertpublic-r2californiacsu
Added 2026-06-21Updated 2026-06-21Via ingestion