Emergency Notification Policy

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The University of Delaware's Emergency Notification Policy governs UD Alert, the institution's primary emergency notification system, which is activated only during major emergencies where there is an imminent danger to the safety and welfare of the campus community or when a state of emergency is declared. UD Alert delivers messages within minutes via voice phone calls, text messages and email through the vendor Send Word Now.

Read the official policy

Institution

University of Delaware

Public R1 · DE

~24,000 studentsUD Alert

In the policy’s own words

What the policy says

Activation criteriaverbatim

UD Alert is activated only during major emergencies, situations where there is an imminent danger to the safety and welfare of students, faculty and staff, or if a state of emergency is declared.

— Defines the threshold for sending a UD Alert: imminent danger or a declared state of emergency, not routine incidents.

UD Office of Emergency Management — Campus Emergency Notification Systems

Vendor / speedverbatim

The University of Delaware's primary emergency notification tool, implemented through the emergency notification vendor, Send Word Now, allows UD to send emergency messages within minutes.

— Identifies Send Word Now as the platform and frames the timeliness expectation ('within minutes').

UD Office of Emergency Management — Campus Emergency Notification Systems

Delivery channelsverbatim

Notices are sent as voice messages (to local, cell or home phone numbers) and text messages (to cell phones or pagers).

— Spells out the voice and text delivery paths; email is also used for UD Alert messages per UD's FAQ materials.

UD Office of Emergency Management — Campus Emergency Notification Systems

At a glance

How this policy works

When it activates: Activated only during major emergencies — situations where there is an imminent danger to the safety and welfare of students, faculty and staff, or if a state of emergency is declared. Triggering categories include severe weather (winter storms, flash floods, tornado warnings), environmental hazards (fire, gas leak, chemical spill), and confirmed immediate threats to health and safety (violent civil disturbances, bomb threats, acts of terrorism).
Who decides: University of Delaware Office of Campus & Public Safety / Office of Emergency Management initiate UD Alert messages; the Office of Emergency Management maintains the Emergency Notification Policy and Emergency Operations Plan.
Timeliness standard: Messages can be sent within minutes via the Send Word Now vendor platform; UD Alert is the primary tool for rapid, time-critical mass notification.
Emergency notification vs. timely warning: UD Alert functions as the emergency-notification channel for immediate/imminent threats; lower-urgency and informational messaging is routed through complementary systems (LiveSafe for less-critical issues such as road closures, and the University home page for updates), keeping the alert channel reserved for genuine emergencies.
Testing cadence: Recurring campuswide tests (documented June 2022, September 2022, September 2023, March 2024 and June 2026), covering email and text messages; tests run without requiring recipient action.
Scope & limits: Reserved for major emergencies and imminent-danger situations; routine, operational and less-critical communications (e.g., road closures) are intentionally directed to LiveSafe and the University home page rather than UD Alert.

ChannelsSmsEmailPhone CallWebsite

Analysis

Reading the policy

UD Alert is the University of Delaware's primary emergency notification tool, implemented through the commercial vendor Send Word Now, which the university describes as allowing UD to send emergency messages within minutes. By policy, the system is reserved for major emergencies: it is activated only during situations where there is an imminent danger to the safety and welfare of students, faculty and staff, or if a state of emergency is declared. Typical triggering events include severe weather (winter storms, flash floods, tornado warnings), environmental hazards (fire, gas leak, chemical spill), and confirmed immediate threats to health and safety such as violent civil disturbances, bomb threats and acts of terrorism. Notifications are delivered across multiple channels simultaneously. UD Alert messages are sent as voice messages to local, cell or home phone numbers, as text messages to cell phones, and as email. The university's Office of Emergency Management maintains the underlying Emergency Operations Plan, All-Hazard Mitigation Plan, Emergency Notification Systems Guide and Weather Closing Procedures, and the Emergency Notification Policy specifies the procedures for communicating critical emergency information. Campus & Public Safety also feeds timely information to the Communications and Public Affairs office, which posts updates on the University's home page, and the university supplements UD Alert with LiveSafe for less-critical messaging such as road closures. The distinction the policy framework draws is between high-urgency emergency notifications (UD Alert) reserved for imminent danger, and lower-urgency informational messaging routed through complementary channels (LiveSafe, the UD home page). This mirrors the Clery Act split between emergency notifications (immediate threats) and timely warnings, though UD's public-facing materials emphasize the operational UD Alert system rather than the formal Clery vocabulary. All students, faculty and staff are encouraged to register or update their contact information to receive UD Alerts. UD conducts recurring tests of UD Alert to confirm the community can receive information during a campus crisis. The university has run campuswide tests in June 2022, September 2022, September 2023, March 2024 and June 2026, with tests covering email and text messages; recipients are told no action is required once they become aware that the message is a test. The scope of UD Alert is intentionally limited to genuine emergencies — routine operational and lower-priority information is deliberately kept off the alert channel to preserve its urgency, per the campus notifications guidance.

Takeaways

Key findings

UD Alert is reserved for major emergencies with imminent danger to safety/welfare or a declared state of emergency — not routine incidents.

The system runs on the Send Word Now vendor platform and is designed to deliver messages within minutes.

Messages are pushed simultaneously across voice phone calls, text messages and email.

Lower-urgency information (e.g., road closures) is deliberately routed to LiveSafe and the University home page to keep the alert channel reserved for emergencies.

UD runs recurring campuswide tests of UD Alert (documented across 2022-2026) covering email and text.

Policy, meet practice

When this system actually fired

5 documented times UD’s alert system was used, from the case archive.

Provenance

Sources

Official
Campus Emergency Notifications Systems — Office of Emergency Management, University of Delaware
www1.udel.edu
archived copy
Official
Emergency Notification Policy — Office of General Counsel, University of Delaware
sites.udel.edu
archived copy
Official
Emergency Notifications — Emergency Management, University of Delaware
sites.udel.edu
archived copy
Official
What to know about UD Alert — UDaily
udel.edu
archived copy
Official
Campuswide test of UD Alert (June 26) — UDaily
udel.edu
archived copy