CatawbAlerts: Emergency Notification System

ABOUT THE SYSTEM

CatawbAlerts is the emergency notification system that alerts the college community to an emergency situation on campus.

When an emergency occurs, a CatawbAlert is promptly sent to the list of phone numbers and/or e-mail addresses you have registered. It is a brief summary of the emergency situation. Following the CatawbAlert, any supplementary details will be provided on the additional sources noted below.

YOUR STUDENT'S ROLE

Please encourage your student to register your contact information so that you will be alerted in the case of emergency on campus. After registering your information, students must validate your contact information in order for you to receive a CatawbAlert notification. See the next section for details.

VALIDATION OF REGISTERED NUMBERS AND E-MAILS

IMPORTANT: Phone numbers and e-mail addresses registered in the system must be validated before they will receive CatawbAlerts. Registered text numbers will receive a validation code that you will need to enter under the "Services" section of the CatawbAlerts system. Registered e-mails will receive a validation e-mail which you will simply send a reply to. If your student registered your contact information, be sure to send him/her the validation code (if a text number) and/or reply to the validation e-mail (without making edits) you receive after they register your contact information.

If your validation code or e-mail has been lost or deleted, your student can easily resend the validation request from the CatawbAlerts system in CatLink, and a new validation request will be sent to you.

TYPES OF EMERGENCIES

If your student has registered your number/e-mail to receive emergency notifications using the CatawbAlerts system, you will receive a CatawbAlert when there is an urgent situation or emergency on campus. This includes anything from inclement weather to a life-threatening situation. The system will NOT be used for solicitation or random, non-emergency announcements.

NOTIFICATION SETTINGS

The CatawbAlerts system allows students to register up to two text (cell) numbers, six (off-campus) e-mail addresses and four voice numbers. He/she can update these notification settings or personal account information at any time by logging into the Catlink portal.

TEXT ALERTS

Students can register up to two text (cell) numbers in the CatawbAlerts system. In the case of an emergency, a CatawbAlert in the form of a text message will be sent to the registered cell phone numbers. Due to the character limits on text messages, the CatawbAlerts are only a brief summary of the emergency situation. Standard data rates apply.

E-MAIL SPAM SETTINGS

To ensure that the CatawbAlerts sent from Catawba to e-mail addresses do not end up in your spam/junk folder, we highly recommend adding "omnilert.net" to your safe senders list. E-mails sent from our CatawbAlerts system will show up as coming from "CatawbAlerts."

ADDITIONAL SOURCES

Additional details on the emergency situation will be posted on college website, Facebook, and Twitter after a CatawbAlert is sent.