Pierce does not need a campus wide intercom system because it will not be effective overall in alerting every faculty member and student on or off campus.
This school already has a pretty effective way of reaching students and faculty by mobile phone. The campus is also equipped with Blue Emergency Phones that connect directly to the on-campus Sheriff’s station. Campus pay-phones can also be used to connect directly to the on-campus Sheriff’s station by dialing pound eighty-six.
Though nearly everyone carries cell-phones these days, the blue-light phones have managed to hang on. They’re called blue-light phones because most are topped with a blue strobe light that goes off when someone uses it. Campus police officials say the light alerts passers-by of a potential problem and helps officers find a person calling for help.The blue phones are also meant to provide a method for students and staff to contact the Sheriffs for help in case of emergency.
Since we currently still have these phones on campus and some of them need to be repaired, I believe that installing a campus wide intercom system would just cost the school more money. Intercom systems can cost an upwards of over $30,000 to be installed. I believe that money can be used elsewhere on campus other than towards an overhead announcement system.
The campus is also sitting on over 400 acres. The purpose of an intercom would be for students to hear if there is an emergency, that’s great if each student or faculty member is directly on the campus at the time. But what about the students that are on their way to campus from home or work. They will already know what’s happening on campus by receiving a mass text message.
The campus has already had success in utilizing mass notification systems, social media, websites, emails and mass texts. Installing intercoms could also be an invasion of privacy on campus. If a student or faculty member presses the intercom button on accident while a teacher or student is speaking, that can be a violation of privacy.
This school has installed several methods to communicate to Students, Faculty and Staff in the event of an emergency. Pierce utilizes Blackboard Connect to send messages, voice paging via the campus telephone system and the wireless communications boxes installed in campus classrooms. Therefore, there is essentially no need for a campus wide intercom system.
