The shooting on Tuesday at the University of Texas serves as a reminder for the Cal Poly Pomona campus community that real emergencies are unpredictable yet require some preparation.

In the Texas shooting, the gunman opened fire on campus before killing himself. While no one else was injured, the incident underscores the need for everyone on campus to be aware about safety procedures. All students, faculty and staff are urged to take three simple steps to empower themselves in the event of a campus emergency:

1. Update emergency contact information in BroncoDirect. It is used in the Cal Poly Pomona Safety Alert System only in the event of a campus emergency.
2. Review the campus' short Emergency Plan Summary and Self-Help Guide to learn key procedures, like how to Shelter in Place or where to evacuate after an earthquake.
3. Add the Cal Poly Pomona Safety Alert System into your phone and email contacts to ensure you receive messages. The Safety Alert System will have the ID 23177 or 63079 on text messages, (866) 869-7659 on phone messages and Cal Poly Pomona Safety Alert at safetyalert@cpp.edu on e-mail messages.

The university is planning a test of the Safety Alert System on Thursday, Oct. 21, on the day of the Great California Shake-out.

The Safety Alert System is the university's emergency messaging system, which can send alerts to phones, e-mail addresses, text/SMS and TTY/TDD devices. The university tests the system three times a year to ensure it is functioning properly as well as to familiarize the campus community with this important emergency communication tool. It is used only for emergency communication purposes and never for routine communications.

If you are adding a cell phone number into BroncoDirect for the first time, you may be asked to confirm that you want to receive text messages from CPP Safety Alert.

To learn more about the Safety Alert system, visit the frequently asked questions page.