1.0 Introduction
Community safety and effective communication are core values at the heart of the Teachers College Public Safety Team’s mission. At various times, the College may need to alert the community to incidents or issues of concern, including by sending safety messages. Some safety messages are required by law under the Jeanne Clery Act, such as Emergency Notifications and Clery Crime Alerts, and must follow specific timelines and protocols. Other safety messages are issued at the College’s discretion.
Emergency Notifications are sent when there is confirmation of an immediate threat to the health and safety of the campus community. They may be made to the community via TC Alert, an emergency notification system that enables fast and efficient dissemination of critical information to College community members. TC Alert allows the College to send simultaneous emergency text, email, RSS, push notifications, and voice message alerts. TC Alert is NOT used for general announcements. It may also be used in conjunction with other communication methods, such as College-wide broadcast emails, online updates via the Teachers College homepage, coordinated use of public media outlets, and public address systems within most College buildings.
All members of the TC community with an active UNI are automatically enrolled in TC Alert via their uni@tc.columbia.edu email and are strongly encouraged to add mobile and voice-only (landline) telephone contacts to TC Alert. TC community members without an active UNI may sign up for TC Alert via the TC Alert Community Portal.
2.0 Types of Messages for Personal Safety
2.1 Emergency Notifications
The Clery Act requires the College to issue Emergency Notifications upon confirmation of (1) a significant emergency or dangerous situation that (2) involves an immediate threat to the health or safety of students or employees.
The Emergency Notification may involve a criminal act that presents an immediate threat. The Emergency Notification can also involve other, non-criminal immediate threats, such as an approaching hurricane or other extreme weather conditions, a hazardous materials release, a fire, or an explosion.
The intent of an Emergency Notification is to inform the community when an event is occurring or imminently threatening the campus to enable them to protect themselves. The College will issue an Emergency Notification even if the threat is not on or immediately adjacent to campus if the situation presents an immediate danger to the health or safety of the campus community.
2.2 Campus Safety Advisories
From time to time, the College may issue discretionary safety messages, called Campus Safety Advisories, even though there is no continuing danger of a criminal act or an immediate threat to health and safety. Criteria the College considers in deciding whether to issue a Campus Safety Advisory include, but are not limited to:
In general, the College will consider proximity to the campus in deciding whether circumstances warrant a Campus Safety Advisory.
2.3 Clery Crime Alerts (Timely Warnings)
The Clery Act is a federal law that requires the College to issue messages that contain information about specific crimes that occur within a geographic area defined by the Clery Act. The College issues Clery Crime Alerts (Timely Warnings) when a Clery crime occurs within TC’s Clery geography, the crime has been reported to a campus security authority, and there is a serious or continuing threat to the campus community. The intent of a Clery Crime Alert is to enable community members to protect themselves.
Clery crimes are defined by law the following:
The College will issue a Clery Crime Alert (Timely Warning) only where there is a Clery crime with TC’s Clery geography and there is a serious or continuing threat to the campus community. If the continuing danger of a specified crime ends, the College will not issue another crime alert but may elect to issue a discretionary Campus Safety Advisory (see below).
3.0 Emergency Notifications
An Emergency Notification is triggered when there is confirmation of an immediate threat to the health and safety of the campus community.
3.1 Circumstances Requiring the College to Issue an Emergency Notification
The College will issue an Emergency Notification upon the confirmation of a significant emergency or dangerous situation involving an immediate threat to the health or safety of students, faculty, staff, and visitors on campus. The College may follow its Clery Crime Alert (Timely Warning) procedure if the threat is not immediate and involves a Clery Crime with TC’s Clery Reportable Geography.
The College may choose not to issue an Emergency Notification for a confirmed emergency if doing so would compromise efforts to assist a victim or to contain, respond to, or otherwise mitigate the emergency.
Confirmation that there is a significant emergency or dangerous situation is determined when a credible source confirms an emergency with one of the individuals listed in Section 3.2. Credible sources include but are not limited to local law enforcement, emergency management, and the National Weather Service.
The following list of situations or similar circumstances could require an Emergency Notification:
3.2 Who Determines if a Situation Requires an Emergency Notification
One of the following individuals will assess a situation and determine if a circumstance warrants an Emergency Notification:
3.3 Who Authorizes the Issuance of an Emergency Notification
a. One of the individuals listed in Section 3.2 above will confirm an emergency or dangerous situation with personnel on the scene, and then one of the individuals listed below will authorize the notification.
b. If time allows, the authorizer from Section 3.2 should consult with the Assistant Vice President of Public Safety and or the Vice President for Finance and Administration before authorizing an Emergency Notification.
3.4 Who Creates the Emergency Notification Message
One of the individuals listed in Section 3.3 from the Office of Public Safety will write/draft the Emergency Notification for distribution.
3.5 Content of the Emergency Notification Message
a. The Office of Public Safety will determine the content of the Emergency Notification by assessing the situation and, if appropriate, selecting the relevant pre-approved template message for the Emergency Notification or drafting a message specific to the situation. Some of the following factors could influence the content of the final message: i.e., armed suspects, bomb threat, fire, hazmat incidence, shooting, street closure, or weather-related closure of the College.
Note: The names of victims, if any, will be treated as confidential and withheld.
3.6 Who Sends an Emergency Notification/ Method of Distribution
One of the individuals listed in Section 3.3 from the Office of Public Safety will send the Emergency Notifications via the TC Alert system. These individuals have been trained and have the necessary access to issue these alerts. The Office of Communications and Marketing may send information about the notification via official means to the general public and the media.
3.7 Who Receives the Emergency Notification
The Office of Public Safety will determine the appropriate segment (or segments) of the campus community to receive a notification based on which segments of the College population need information about the Emergency. Generally, the College will send the entire campus community an Emergency Notification. If sending the notification to some members of the campus community and not others becomes necessary, these factors will be considered: type of emergency, location of the emergency, or the possibility the emergency will become more dangerous.
3.8 Emergency Status Updates and “All Clear” Notifications
Emergency Notification status updates will be made when new information or instructions are available.
An “All Clear” notification indicates the emergency situation has been contained. All Clear notifications must be approved by the Assistant Vice President of Public Safety prior to sending.
4.0 TC Alert Enrollment Procedures
To sign up for TC Alert or manage settings, please follow the steps below:
For TC Community Members with an active UNI
TC Alert automatically enrolls all community members with an active UNI into the TC Alert system via their TC UNI email. Auto-enrolled users can self-manage their alert preferences and add mobile phone numbers, email addresses, and voice-only lines by signing into myTC and clicking the Manage TC Alert Settings link. Users can also update or opt out of voice and SMS notifications at any time but will always be enrolled in TC Alert via their TC UNI email.
For TC Community Members without an active UNI
This new upgrade also allows members of the TC community without an active UNI to register for TC Alert via the TC Alert Community Portal, which is powered by the Smart911 platform. They may create a TC Alert account and specify the email address and phone number where they would like to receive emergency notifications. Such users can also update their preferences or opt out of the system at any time.
Responsible Office: Public Safety
Last Updated: April 2024*
*This policy replaces the former policy, “Emergency Notifications Procedure-TC Alert,” published in April 2015.