SAN ANTONIO – The University of the Incarnate Word has made changes to its emergency alert system after breakdowns in communication when there was a reported gunman on campus in October.
"I was in my last class for the day," UIW Junior Evelyn Olivares said.
"I was just doing some homework in this building right behind me. We just went into lockdown mode, hid in a class, shut the doors," UIW Senior Bret Roberts said.
UIW students clearly remember Oct. 27 when police searched the campus for a potential shooter. Roberts got the university's emergency Rave Alert that day.
"I had signed up for the Rave Alert," he said.
However Olivares, who was a new student at the time, hadn't signed up and didn't even know the system existed. Like many others, she heard about what was going on from fellow students.
"What I heard from my other peers, they said they were so scared," she said.
Police never found a gunman, but students were furious about the university's communication. So UIW made changes. The Rave Alert used to be an "opt-in" program, but the university changed it to "opt-out."
Now, every student and staff member will automatically get the Rave Alert to their phones and emails without having to sign up for it. If for some reason they don't want the Rave Alert, they can opt out of it.
A UIW statement sent to KSAT 12 News on Tuesday explained the Rave Alert system will now "also accept multiple mobile phone numbers and multiple email addresses for one person."
"That is a much better way of doing (it) versus signing up, because not a lot of people know about the system," Olivares said.
"I think that's fine. However, the problem was the delay in time between the initial report from students, and that kind of contributed to a lot of hazy reports," Roberts said.
The university's statement did not address alert system timing, but in October, administrators were aware that students were upset about the delay.