SDSU
Policy 10:3 — Community Notification of Potential, Imminent or Active Threat to the University
South Dakota State University, the land-grant flagship in Brookings, runs a Campus Alert System through Everbridge Emergency Communications — branded as the 'Campus Alert System,' not 'SDSU Alert' (which is San Diego State) — and governs its activation through Policy 10:3, which assigns the Chair of the Emergency Management Team responsibility for issuing Clery Timely Warnings, Emergency Notifications, and Other Notifications.
Read the official policyInstitution
South Dakota State University
Public R2 · SD
~12,065 studentsCampus Alert System (Everbridge)
In the policy’s own words
What the policy says
Campus Alert System definition / vendorverbatim
South Dakota State University maintains a Campus Alert System through Everbridge Emergency Communications for the purpose of issuing immediate notification to keep the SDSU community informed and safe during an emergency situation.
- — Confirms the brand ('Campus Alert System') and the vendor (Everbridge), distinguishing this South Dakota State system from San Diego State's 'SDSU Alert.' Identical wording surfaced across roughly six independent search retrievals.
Emergency Notification definition (Clery)verbatim
Emergency Notifications are notifications to the University community that alert the University community to a significant emergency or dangerous situation involving an immediate threat to the health or safety of students or employees occurring on the University campus.
- — Tracks the Clery emergency-notification standard for significant emergencies and dangerous situations. Identical wording surfaced across four-plus independent retrievals of Policy 10:3.
Timely Warning definition (Clery)verbatim
Timely Warnings are notifications to the University community that provide information on Clery Act crimes that occur on University Clery geography, are reported to campus security authorities, the University Police Department (“UPD”), or local law enforcement, and pose a serious or continuing threat to students and employees.
- — Separately defines the Clery timely-warning function around 'serious or continuing threat' from Clery-geography crimes reported to CSAs, UPD, or local law enforcement. Identical wording surfaced across three-plus independent retrievals.
Decision authority and 'without delay' timingverbatim
In situations where an imminent or active threat to the University has been confirmed, the Chair of the Emergency Management Team, or designee, upon consultation with designated units as appropriate, will issue an Emergency Notification to the University community without delay.
- — Assigns the issuance decision to the EMT Chair (or designee) and sets the 'without delay' timing once a threat 'has been confirmed.' The core sentence surfaced identically across three independent retrievals; the trailing 'without delay' was corroborated in two.
Multi-channel delivery (Everbridge + Alertus)verbatim
Emergency communication tools, such as the Everbridge communications system, allow university students and staff to receive email, text and cellular and hardwired telephone notification of emergencies on campus.
- — Documents the Everbridge channel mix: email, SMS/text, cellular voice, and hardwired (landline) telephone. SDSU separately notes Alertus desktop notifications push messages to computer screens. Identical wording surfaced across three-plus independent retrievals.
At a glance
How this policy works
- When it activates
- Per Policy 10:3, an Emergency Notification alerts the community to 'a significant emergency or dangerous situation involving an immediate threat to the health or safety of students or employees occurring on the University campus,' and is issued when 'an imminent or active threat to the University has been confirmed.' A Timely Warning is issued for Clery Act crimes on University Clery geography that 'pose a serious or continuing threat to students and employees.' The policy frames threats at three levels: potential, imminent, and active.
- Who decides
- The Chair of the Emergency Management Team, or designee, in consultation with appropriate members of the Emergency Management Team and other University units, 'is responsible for initiating Timely Warnings, Emergency Notifications, and Other Notifications to the campus community.' The SDSU Police Department (UPD) and other entities feed information into that determination. Supporting detail that the VP and General Counsel serves as EMT Chair was single-source and is not asserted as verbatim.
- Timeliness standard
- Policy 10:3 provides that once an imminent or active threat 'has been confirmed,' the EMT Chair or designee 'will issue an Emergency Notification to the University community without delay,' consistent with the federal Clery standard. SDSU does not use the precise phrase 'immediately upon confirmation'; its construction is 'has been confirmed … will issue … without delay.'
- Emergency notification vs. timely warning
- SDSU keeps the two Clery functions distinct and explicitly named in Policy 10:3: 'Emergency Notifications' for significant emergencies/dangerous situations posing an immediate threat to health or safety, and 'Timely Warnings' for Clery Act crimes on University Clery geography that pose a serious or continuing threat, plus a third 'Other Notifications' category. SDSU produces an Annual Security and Fire Safety Report.
- Testing cadence
- SDSU states system components 'are regularly tested to ensure proper functionality' and that users 'will receive notifications for routine tests of the South Dakota State University Emergency Communications System,' announced before the test is conducted (a documented test ran Friday, Sept. 5, 2025 at 2 p.m.). A fixed calendar cadence (e.g., per-semester) was not confirmed verbatim and is not asserted.
- Scope & limits
- Students and employees are automatically enrolled through their campus-assigned email address; full text/voice reach depends on registered cell or landline numbers in the system. Alertus desktop notifications add an on-screen channel for campus computers. Outdoor sirens were not tied to the Campus Alert System by any SDSU-specific source and are not claimed.
ChannelsEmailSmsPhone CallDesktop PopupWebsite
Analysis
Reading the policy
South Dakota State University (SDSU) is a public land-grant research university in Brookings governed by the South Dakota Board of Regents. It is currently Carnegie R2 and openly pursuing R1 through its 'R1 Our Way' initiative, and it enrolled a record ~12,065 students in fall 2024. A naming caution is essential: 'SDSU' is most often San Diego State, and the 'SDSU Alert' brand belongs to San Diego, while South Dakota State brands its system the Campus Alert System. The underlying vendor is Everbridge (not Rave): SDSU states it 'maintains a Campus Alert System through Everbridge Emergency Communications for the purpose of issuing immediate notification to keep the SDSU community informed and safe during an emergency situation,' supplemented by Alertus Desktop Notifications for on-screen alerts.
SDSU draws a clean Clery two-track distinction in Policy 10:3. Emergency Notifications are 'notifications to the University community that alert the University community to a significant emergency or dangerous situation involving an immediate threat to the health or safety of students or employees occurring on the University campus,' while Timely Warnings are 'notifications to the University community that provide information on Clery Act crimes that occur on University Clery geography, are reported to campus security authorities, the University Police Department (“UPD”), or local law enforcement, and pose a serious or continuing threat to students and employees.' The policy also recognizes a third 'Other Notifications' category and frames a three-level threat model — potential, imminent, and active.
Decision authority is explicit and centralized. Policy 10:3 provides that 'In situations where an imminent or active threat to the University has been confirmed, the Chair of the Emergency Management Team, or designee, upon consultation with designated units as appropriate, will issue an Emergency Notification to the University community without delay,' and that the EMT Chair 'or designee … is responsible for initiating Timely Warnings, Emergency Notifications, and Other Notifications to the campus community.' The 'without delay' timing language maps onto the federal Clery standard. Channels are multi-modal: the Everbridge system delivers 'email, text and cellular and hardwired telephone notification of emergencies on campus,' with Alertus pushing messages 'directly to user's computer screens'; students and employees are automatically enrolled through their campus-assigned email address.
Two honesty caveats apply. First, every sdstate.edu page and the Annual Security & Fire Safety Report PDF returned HTTP 403 to automated fetching, so the excerpts below were captured from search-index reproductions of the official policy and emergency-management pages and corroborated across multiple independent queries (the Everbridge system sentence, the Emergency-Notification and Timely-Warning definitions, the decision-authority sentence, and the channel list each surfaced identically across two-or-more independent retrievals). Second, the specific test cadence is only loosely fixed: SDSU states system components 'are regularly tested' and announces routine tests beforehand (a documented test ran Friday, Sept. 5, 2025 at 2 p.m.), but a fixed calendar cadence and the policy's internal approval-date history were single-source and are not asserted as verbatim. Sirens are not claimed because no SDSU-specific source tied outdoor sirens to the Campus Alert System.
Takeaways
Key findings
SDSU brands its system the 'Campus Alert System' (powered by Everbridge), NOT 'SDSU Alert' — the latter is San Diego State; the vendor is Everbridge plus Alertus desktop notifications, not Rave.
Policy 10:3 defines distinct Clery functions: Emergency Notifications (significant emergency/dangerous situation, immediate threat to health/safety) and Timely Warnings (Clery-geography crimes posing a serious or continuing threat), plus 'Other Notifications.'
The Chair of the Emergency Management Team, or designee, is responsible for initiating Timely Warnings, Emergency Notifications, and Other Notifications, and issues an Emergency Notification 'without delay' once an imminent or active threat 'has been confirmed.'
Channels span email, SMS/text, cellular and hardwired telephone (via Everbridge), and Alertus desktop pop-ups; students and employees are automatically enrolled through their campus-assigned email address.
SDSU is a public R2 land-grant university (~12,065 students, fall 2024) pursuing R1; the system is 'regularly tested' with announced routine tests (e.g., Sept. 5, 2025 at 2 p.m.), though a fixed calendar cadence was not confirmed verbatim.
Policy, meet practice
When this system actually fired
6 documented times SDSU’s alert system was used, from the case archive.
Provenance
Sources
- Official
- Official
- Official
- Official
- Clery ASR
- Government
Tags
policyemergency-notificationtimely-warningclery-actcampus-alert-systemeverbridgealertuspublic-r2south-dakota
Added 2026-06-21Updated 2026-06-21Via ingestion