I’m a first year grad student. I am registered with UT’s emergency notification system — all of my info is current including my cell phone number, the permission to send me texts, and my carrier. For weeks, I have received “test” texts and emails from the UT system; however, today, when it mattered the most, I received nothing. I only found out about what was going on on campus when a family member called me at 10:30 a.m. asking if I was out of harm’s way. No texts, no emails from UT, nothing. To me, this is a major flaw.

I also spoke to a girlfriend of mine, a fellow grad student, who only found out about the bomb threats when a friend all the way at Texas Tech University texted her to ask her if she was OK. Same thing! My friend did not receive any texts or emails from UT. If this happened to both of us, I know it happened to many students. I would like to know what answer UT has for such a flawed notification system in light of the current popularity of “seamless” disaster preparedness among institutions of higher education.