Eagle Alerts: How do they help?

Vanessa Countryman & Briyanna Thompson, The George-Anne Staff

Many students experienced their first campus emergency Eagle Alert last week, after a reported shooting, but what can they expect to get out of them?

Eagle Alerts are notifications that update Georgia Southern students and staff about campus emergencies sent through university emails, text messages, phone calls and online posts. 

Students are meant to take instructions from Eagle Alerts for their safety, according to Georgia Southern’s website.

These alerts obviously include general emergencies, but they also include severe weather alerts. One student found the Eagle Alert system to be useful.

“I would definitely say yes, like in cases of on campus shootings, or any other emergencies like that,” said Grace Tolentino, a Russell Union student employee.

Following an Eagle Alert sent last week for a shooting at Kennedy Hall, some students were upset with the response time of the alert, receiving texts and calls an hour after the fact.

“The only reason that I rate them a seven and not like straight up nine or ten is just the fact that sometimes the alerts reach other certain phones later than others,” said Tolentino “Like I might get an alert immediately after an incident but a friend of mine has gotten theirs maybe an hour later.”

“I feel like the most recent alert we got a little later than we should’ve,” Goss stated. “I mean we got a text, call and email, which was nice but it was an hour after the incident.” Goss said that she would rate the Eagle Alerts a 6.