Emergency Notification

The institution will 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, or staff occurring on campus, unless the notification will compromise efforts to contain the emergency.

DePauw Public Safety and the Emergency Management Offices are in transition from "JYNGLE," our previous Emergency Text Message Notification system, to a reverse 911 system. The reverse 911 system is administered through the Putnam County Emergency Operations Center (911 Center).

Procedure:

Using all information available, Public Safety will confirm that there is a significant emergency or dangerous situation. A determination of the affected area will be made and a decision of the content of a message developed. Initiation of the Emergency Notification Process will begin. Putnam County Emergency Operations Center will issue alerts via SMS text messaging, voice messages for land line phones and DePauw e-mail. Additional efforts to make notification may include internal methods by the Public Safety Office using Novell network alerts, WGRE, Electronic Bulletin Board, and the DePauw Home Page. Updates and information to the broader community will be coordinated via the University Media Relations Office.

Who can receive emergency notifications via text message (sms) or voice messages to land line phones?

Data will be collected for the new message notification in three ways:

    1. Student local numbers are collected through their verification form on e-services, the majority of which are their cell phone numbers.
    2. We will provide a listing of all University land line phone numbers (to receive voice messages) to the 911 center. This will include office phones, common area phones in residence halls, etc.
    3. We are providing an opportunity for employees to enter a cell phone number to receive notification via text messages. Text Messages can only be sent if a phone number is associated with a text enabled cell phone. Standard fees apply. To have your number included, please fill out the registration form. Any changes to information submitted should be emailed to police@depauw.edu.

    If you are currently signed up for JYNGLE, you must resubmit your information to receive messages after August 1st, 2009.

What type of incidents might initiate an emergency notification?

The Putnam County Emergency Operations Center will be the source for issuing any and all weather related emergency information such as declarations of Tornado Warnings by the National Weather Service. If a situation involving an immediate threat to the health or safety of students or staff occurs on campus, unless notifying the campus would compromise efforts to contain the emergency, Public Safety and/or Emergency Management will request that the Reverse 911 system be used along with our internal methods of notification.

The University will work collaboratively with the Putnam County Emergency Operations Center to announce a date for annual testing in the fall semester each year. University Community members will be notified in advance of the test via DePauw Email, the Emergency Management homepage and the Public Safety homepage.

Evacuation Procedure:

It is important to know the Emergency and Evacuation Procedures, please click here for more information.

Note: The University has moved away from the JYNGLE service and is now working with the Putnam County Emergency Operations Center to provide SMS text message alerts. As the transition continues more information will be disseminated.