UO
UO Alerts — Emergency Notifications and Campus Crime Alerts (Timely Warnings)
The University of Oregon's UO Alert is the university's emergency notification system, sent when there is an imminent threat to the health and/or safety of the campus community; UO runs it alongside Campus Crime Alerts (timely warnings) so that the two messages map to the Clery Act's emergency-notification and timely-warning obligations, with the UO Police Department (UOPD) and Safety and Risk Services running the system.
Read the official policyInstitution
University of Oregon
Public R1 · OR
~24,404 studentsUO Alert
In the policy’s own words
What the policy says
UO Alert activation / channelsverbatim
UO Alerts are sent when there is an imminent threat to health and/or safety to the campus community. UO Alerts are emailed to all @uoregon.edu email accounts and posted to the Alerts Page.
- — Anchors the trigger on an 'imminent threat to health and/or safety' and names the two default delivery destinations: @uoregon.edu email and the Alerts Page.
Emergency notification standardverbatim
Emergency notifications are used to immediately notify the campus community upon the reliable report of a significant emergency or dangerous situation involving an immediate threat to the health or safety of students or employees.
- — Tracks the Clery emergency-notification language: 'reliable report,' 'significant emergency or dangerous situation,' and an 'immediate threat' to students or employees.
Campus Crime Alert (timely warning) triggerverbatim
Timely Warnings, or Campus Crime Alerts, are sent to all students and employees through official uoregon.edu email when the University learns of crimes occuring within its Clery geography (i.e., the area in and immediately adjacent to campus) that represent a serious and ongoing threat to campus community members.
- — Defines the timely-warning trigger by Clery geography plus a 'serious and ongoing threat' standard. Note the source's own typo 'occuring' preserved verbatim.
Non-Clery UOPD Safety/Security Advisoryverbatim
In instances where an incident has occurred which constitutes a serious or ongoing threat but is not a Clery crime and/or has not occurred within the University's Clery geography, UOPD will consider and evaluate these incidents on a case-by-case basis and may issue a UOPD Safety/Security Advisory.
- — Documents the discretionary, non-Clery advisory tier UO uses to fill the gap between Clery-mandated alerts and broader threat awareness.
At a glance
How this policy works
- When it activates
- UO Alerts (emergency notifications) are sent when there is an imminent threat to health and/or safety to the campus community — used to immediately notify the community upon the reliable report of a significant emergency or dangerous situation involving an immediate threat to the health or safety of students or employees (e.g., police activity, gas leaks, fire concerns, weather). Campus Crime Alerts (timely warnings) are issued when the university learns of designated Clery crimes within its Clery geography that represent a serious and ongoing threat to the campus community.
- Who decides
- The UO Police Department (UOPD) and the Division of Safety and Risk Services administer the system. UOPD evaluates non-Clery serious-or-ongoing-threat incidents case-by-case and may issue a UOPD Safety/Security Advisory in lieu of a Clery alert.
- Timeliness standard
- Emergency notifications are used to immediately notify the campus community upon a reliable report of an immediate threat; UO uses multiple modes of communication to ensure as many individuals as possible receive notifications quickly. Campus Crime Alerts are issued in a timely manner and are generally not sent if an arrest or apprehension has already ended the serious and ongoing threat.
- Emergency notification vs. timely warning
- UO sends two alert types that satisfy Clery Act requirements: 'emergency notifications' (UO Alert) and 'timely warnings' (Campus Crime Alerts). A separate UOPD Safety/Security Advisory is used for serious-or-ongoing threats that are not Clery crimes or fall outside Clery geography, and is explicitly described as not issued in compliance with the Clery Act.
- Testing cadence
- The UO tests UO Alerts several times each year, including a publicized annual test of the UO Alert system.
- Scope & limits
- UO Alert is reserved for imminent threats to health/safety. Campus Crime Alerts are limited to designated Clery crimes occurring within the university's Clery geography (in and immediately adjacent to campus) that pose a serious and ongoing threat, and are generally not sent when an arrest or apprehension has ended the threat. All @uoregon.edu email accounts are automatically subscribed to UO Alert with no option to unsubscribe.
ChannelsEmailSmsWebsite
Analysis
Reading the policy
The University of Oregon separates its Clery-driven safety messaging into two named products plus a discretionary third tier. The top tier is UO Alert, the emergency notification: per UO, alerts are sent when there is an imminent threat to health and/or safety to the campus community, and they are used "upon the reliable report of a significant emergency or dangerous situation involving an immediate threat to the health or safety of students or employees." UO uses the system regularly for warning of police activity, gas leaks, fire concerns, weather notices, and other immediate information. The second tier is the Campus Crime Alert — UO's branding for the Clery timely warning — issued when the university learns of crimes within its Clery geography (the area in and immediately adjacent to campus) that represent a serious and ongoing threat to community members.
The two products are deliberately scoped to the two distinct Clery obligations. Campus Crime Alerts are issued only for designated Clery crimes (murder/non-negligent manslaughter, robbery, sexual assault, aggravated assault, burglary, motor vehicle theft, arson; covered hate crimes; and domestic/dating violence and stalking), and UO notes they are generally not sent if an arrest or apprehension has already ended the serious and ongoing threat. For incidents that constitute a serious or ongoing threat but are not a Clery crime, or did not occur within UO's Clery geography, UOPD evaluates case-by-case and may issue a non-Clery UOPD Safety/Security Advisory carrying the same basic awareness-and-prevention information.
On channels and reach, all @uoregon.edu email addresses are automatically subscribed to UO Alert with no option to unsubscribe, and messages are emailed to those accounts and posted to the Alerts Page (reachable at safety.uoregon.edu/alerts or alerts.uoregon.edu); community members can additionally sign up to receive UO Alerts via text. UO has expanded UO Alerts to include text messages about all campuses. The university tests UO Alert several times each year, including a publicized annual test.
On Clery framing, UO is explicit that it "sends out two types of alerts that satisfy Clery Act requirements" — timely warnings (Campus Crime Alerts) and emergency notifications (UO Alert) — and that UOPD Safety/Security Advisories sit outside the Clery mandate. Because uoregon.edu hosts return HTTP 403 to automated fetching in this environment, the verbatim excerpts below were captured from the official UO Safety and Risk Services and UO Clery Act page text as reproduced in search results and corroborated across multiple independent queries; process and reach detail is paraphrased.
Takeaways
Key findings
UO runs two Clery products — UO Alert (emergency notification) and Campus Crime Alert (timely warning) — plus a discretionary non-Clery UOPD Safety/Security Advisory tier.
A UO Alert is sent for an imminent threat to health and/or safety; emergency notifications follow a 'reliable report' of a significant emergency or dangerous situation involving an immediate threat to students or employees.
Campus Crime Alerts are limited to designated Clery crimes within UO's Clery geography that pose a serious and ongoing threat, and are generally not sent once an arrest or apprehension ends the threat.
All @uoregon.edu email accounts are automatically subscribed with no unsubscribe option; messages go to email and the Alerts Page, and community members can opt into text alerts.
UO tests UO Alerts several times each year, including a publicized annual system test.
Policy, meet practice
When this system actually fired
11 documented times UO’s alert system was used, from the case archive.
+ 3 more in the case archive.
Provenance
Sources
- Official
- Clery ASR
- Official
- Official
- Official
Tags
policyemergency-notificationtimely-warningclery-actuo-alertcampus-crime-alertpublic-r1oregon
Added 2026-06-21Updated 2026-06-21Via ingestion