Broadcast voice mail guidelines changed
By Meredith Brant
Contributing Reporter

The guidelines for the appropriate instances for campus-wide broadcast voice mail and e-mail have been revised by a committee composed of representatives of the Dean of the College, Human Resources, Student Government, Information Systems and Public Affairs.

The technology is designed to allow the university news service to keep the students and faculty aware of emergencies and other viable news information.

Previously, broadcast messaging was reserved for urgent messages of campus-wide interest.

As of now, the changes have enabled the university’s director of human resources to distribute information on special occasions as well; however, there will always be clarification when these broadcast e-mail and voice mail messages are in regard to deaths of members of the community or other substantial events.

“I chaired the committee and most people were of the opinion that broadcast e-mail and voice mail should be used on a very limited basis — when it is the only option,” said Kevin Cox, an assistant vice president and the director of media relations.

According to Cox, more than 30 broadcast e-mails have been sent out to the campus community so far this year. However, Cox prefers to use the system sparingly.

“I get so many requests, but in many cases there are other alternatives,” Cox said. To broadcast a message, “it has to be something pretty substantially important — where timeliness is important,” he said.

As decided in the meeting, the guidelines for contacting students and faculty using the University News Service include emergency and crisis situations, the occurrence of crimes that threaten public safety, sudden changes in traffic, unexpected maintenance that will disrupt campus life in some significant manner and memorial services for members of the university community.

Voice mail, in most cases, is more often used in instances of short notice emergencies.
A memorandum explaining these new changes was sent to all the academic and administration departments and to a few student organizations. Access to this memo can also be achieved by logging on to the Wake Information Network.