![\"Campus](\"\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/6\/2026\/09\/2025-10-24-01-college-urges-omnilert-signups-1.jpg\")
Grove City College is encouraging students and faculty to sign up for text message alerts from Omnilert.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Omnilert is the emergency notification system the college uses to warn the campus community about concerns ranging from weather emergencies to swatting calls.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
According to a Tuesday email from Director of Campus Safety Seth Van Til, \u201ca severe weather warning, gas leak, fire, bomb threat, crime watch, power failure or other event\u201d are all dangers Omnilert can quickly report to students and college employees, instructing them on what to do.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cWe use it to communicate information that is critical for the community to know,\u201d Van Til said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
As part of this campaign, the college is running a test of the Omnilert system at 11:50 a.m. on Friday. The test involves sending an Omnilert message to email addresses and phone numbers in the system and activating the on-campus siren to alert people who are outside on campus.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In an emergency, these messages provide critical information to the community,\u201d Van Til said. \u201cThey contain the most up-to-date information available to the college.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In the Tuesday email, Van Til also encouraged students and college employees to ensure their contact information is correct and in the Omnilert system ahead of Friday\u2019s test. He added steps to make sure students and faculty could receive text alerts at the end of the email.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThe only way to receive voice or text messages in an emergency is to follow the process outlined (in the email) to add your phone and text number and complete the verification process,\u201d Van Til said. \u201cIf you do not follow all steps and verify your number, it will not be added to the system.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cAll student emails are entered into the system by the college. \u2026 Adding phone numbers requires a verification process and can only be done by the owner of the phone number.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Students can also add parents or emergency contacts to the Omnilert system by typing in their phone numbers and emails.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The Sept. 29 swatting call motivated the college to seek to increase the number of phone numbers in the Omnilert system. During the incident, the system notified 4043 emails, 893 texts and 764 voicemails, reaching a total of 4,354, per Van Til.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cOur concern is that only 893 text messages were sent to verified phone numbers,\u201d Van Til said. \u201cWith approximately 2,800 college students and staff, this means that only a third of our community members received text messages, texts being the most immediate notification stream.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cWe know that students don\u2019t always check their email, and that\u2019s a problem when we\u2019re trying to notify them of an emergency or dangerous situation on campus that\u2019s happening in real time,\u201d Nick Hildebrand, director of College Communications, said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThe best way to get the word out to the campus community is via text, so it\u2019s important for everyone on campus to get their phone numbers into the system.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
If students and faculty do not receive Friday\u2019s message as a text, phone call and email, Campus Safety has suggested that members of the campus community update their contact information by visiting the college\u2019s Omnilert website (gcc.omnilert.net) and following the instructions listed in Tuesday\u2019s email from Van Til.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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