Ashland University has added an upgrade to its Eagle Alert emergency notification system by the way of the new CampusShield smartphone app. This new system was put into place after the universities contract with e2Campus had ended.

“When our contract had expired with e2Campus, we decided we wanted something a little more robust,” Director of Safety Services Dave McLaughlin said. “We wanted more safety for the students and the campus community. The previous vender couldn’t provide that. We chose the CampusShield as our program because it fit what we needed.”

The app will provide many emergency notification alerts.

Some of these alerts include severe weather advisories, campus closings, major event cancellations and other emergencies on or near Ashland University.

“With the old system gone, alerts can now be sent out in just one text by safety services instead of having to use multiple messages since there was a character limit,” McLaughlin said.

Students can also use the app to send in anonymous tips, access campus resources, safety resources for emergencies and the campus map to get around the college.

When sending in anonymous tips, students can also now take photos and videos of any suspicious activity on campus while also being able to communicate with a dispatcher from safety services.

“It’s so much more robust within the app now,” McLaughlin said. “Being able to text with a dispatcher or send in pictures or videos is a big step up from what we were doing before.”

Rachel Kleman, a security officer and dispatcher for safety services, agrees with McLaughlin.

“I think this will give a lot more opportunity for students to communicate with us without actually coming to the office or calling us on the phone,” Kleman said. “The anonymous tips will really help with any noise complaints or suspicious activity since we’ll get a ping where the tip is from.”

She also feels that the new alert system will greatly benefit the safety services office as well.
“I feel like it will give us a lot more insight into what’s going on because students are going to feel more open to send a tip if their name is not associated with it,” she said. “It just gives us a little more openness to help the students.”

A FriendWatch timer feature can also be found within the app. Within the timer, a student can put what activity that they’re about to do and set a timer between 5 minutes and one hour.
Whoever is in the student’s contacts on the app will get a notification about their friends’ activity.

If the student’s timer expires, their contact will then get an alert on their phone stating the timer has expired.

McLaughlin feels that this feature will be especially useful to those on first dates, he said.

“People can use this if they’re uncomfortable on a first date or something like that,” McLaughlin said. “We’re not involved whatsoever, it’s just between the two people.”

There are two ways that students can join the new emergency notification system. The first is by downloading the CampusShield app that will include all the features listed above. The app can be found on either the Apple or Google Play store.

When first launching the app, CampusShield will ask for your name and some optional information like what a student looks like.

McLaughlin sees a potential important use for this information but stresses it isn’t mandatory.

“If you’re involved in an emergency, it always helps to have that information,” McLaughlin said. “It’s totally optional but I would recommend it to people that maybe are prone to seizures or to those who are in a position where they can’t communicate.”

Students can also register to just receive mass notifications by going to https://portal.publicsafetycloud.net/community-alerts/ashland-university and filling out the community profile form. This will send any emergency alerts to student’s phones and emails, but they won’t get the additional perks that come with the new app.

McLaughlin believes the new app will be extremely beneficial, he said.

This is much better than the system that just pushes out notifications,” McLaughlin said. “This system will enhance public safety.