Budget for emergency phone system approved
The Crisis Management Team approved a budget in July to improve the emergency phone system located throughout the campus by providing a new method of broadcasting messages. Facilities and Engineering Electrical Supervisor Sylvester Cantu said while no specific incident prompted the installation of the phones, in light of potential crises — such as the August 16 flooding — these new speaker phones will be another way for people on campus to receive announcements. Construction on the phones has not yet begun, but the team plans to have all phones up and running by the end of July 2008.
Police Chief Bill Taylor was part of a team that tested a new speakerphone. He said the test message was sent out on the phone and successfully broadcast throughout campus.
Not every campus emergency phone will need to be replaced, Taylor said.
Cantu said the new phones are equipped with 40-watt concealed speakers with 100-watt amplifiers, have 360-degree coverage and can broadcast information across a wide area. Cantu said the speakerphone demo proved successful.
“A message was broadcast [from a speaker phone] near the police station, and we were able to hear it to the center bus stop in the stadium parking lot,” he said. Cantu said at the moment, there are no plans for speaker phones to be installed around the outer loop.
Information can be broadcast over all speakerphones on campus or individual phones, so announcements on the phones will be able to broadcast emergencies at individual colleges. These phones will be up to 12 feet tall and will have square posts, unlike the current round ones.
Martel College sophomore Neil Parikh said it is important to have the speakers and microphones for a natural disaster.
“As long as they don’t overuse the speakers, it’s a good idea,” Parikh said. “It’s a good way to inform the students that something’s going on, and as long as they don’t abuse the phones with constant announcements, it’ll be fine.”
The phones will serve as a direct line to the police and are extensions of the new emergency contact system to alert students around campus of
an emergency.
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