Marshall University students have access to in-depth instructions on Marshall’s website when it comes to emergency situations.

James Terry, director of public safety at Marshall, said students and faculty stay informed on campus procedures.

The online document gives instructions for immediate actions to be taken. These actions include what to do to secure the area, how to reduce vulnerability, what to do in unsecure areas, what to report to a 911 dispatcher, how to treat an injured person and when to unsecure an area.

MU Alert, Marshall’s emergency notification system, would serve as the messenger in case shots were fired or otherwise reported.

Jon Cutler, chief information security officer at Marshall, and his team support the infrastructure of this communication.

“The real challenge there is, what is the situation, what is the message and what do we need to have folks do,” Cutler said. “This is something where there were lessons learned from Virginia Tech and other schools that have had this happen. They weren’t criticized as much for lack of an emergency notification system, as how much lag time was it between when you knew there was an issue and the guidance that was given.”

Cutler said once the information is submitted, text messages generally make it to MU Alert subscribers in two minutes or less, followed by emails and phone calls respectively.

There are different emergency procedures listed on Marshall’s website.

Tyler Ferris can be contacted at [email protected].