The Department of Public Safety (DPS) will conduct a test of the Orange Alert Notification System on Wednesday, Oct. 21, at 12:50 p.m. Please note: this is just a TEST. It will be a full test of the system, which includes notifications sent via email, text message and voice call. The test will also include the Orange Alert outdoor siren system on the University’s North and South campuses. The sirens will be activated for two minutes at 12:50 p.m.

In addition to email, text and voice messages, the Orange Alert test message will also be sent via push notification to the Orange Safe app, to the main Syracuse University and DPS Facebook and Twitter accounts, and will display on the University’s homepage and video monitors located in common areas in several buildings around campus.

Beginning this fall, our emergency notification system will include a new “desktop notifier” feature that displays emergency alerts on classroom computers and temporarily takes over the screen. Alerts will automatically close after 60 seconds, or faculty can dismiss them sooner by selecting “Acknowledge and Close” and then confirming with “Yes.”

In previous tests, notifications were typically scheduled during class transitions. With this new feature, however, the test will be conducted five minutes after classes begin.

The Orange Alert test message will be sent to all Syracuse University students, faculty and staff, SUNY College of Environmental Science and Forestry (SUNY ESF) students and to SUNY ESF faculty and staff who have signed up. Orange Alert will send a test notice to all devices that are registered on the system.

“Testing the Orange Alert system ensures that our campus community can be alerted quickly and effectively in the event of an emergency,” says William Karnadi, director of emergency management and business continuity planning. “This year’s test also includes a desktop notifier for the first time, so we encourage faculty and staff to expect a brief pop-up during the test window—it will be clearly marked as a test and will not disrupt your work for more than a moment. We also encourage everyone to take a few minutes to double-check their contact information in MySlice so they don’t miss these critical alerts.”

To review and/or modify your Orange Alert contact information, log into MySlice using your NetID and password, select Student Home or Employee Home, depending on your primary affiliation with Syracuse University, select the Personal Profile tile, then “Orange Alert Contacts” from the navigation menu and review your information. If you need to add, update or delete contact information, select the “Add/Update/Delete Contact Details” link. If you are a SUNY ESF student, use the SUNY ESF emergency contact information page to update your information.

For additional information on the Orange Alert system, visit the DPS website.