It’s February. It’s 6 a.m. and you get a text message and you think: Seriously? Who is texting me at this hour? Besides my mom of course. You reach over and grab your phone and see this text message:

“IU Bloomington Emergency! Classes will be cancelled today due to inclement weather. More: http://protect.iu.edu/emergency.”

Then you think Yes! No class today! and you roll over and try to go back to sleep. But before you have a chance to drift off your phone rings. You answer and hear the same message about campus being closed. When you check your e-mail later in day (after you’ve slept in of course) you find a message from IU giving you the same information as the text message and voicemail.

This is IU-Notify and if you have never gotten a text message, phone call or email relating to emergency situations on campus you need to sign up. NOW!

For those of you who haven’t heard of IU-Notify (or if you need a reminder), IU-Notify is the mass notification system used by IU to inform students, faculty and staff of any emergencies or urgent situations on campus that require immediate attention and action.

There are two types of IU-Notify alerts: Emergency and Urgent Situation alerts. Emergencies are any incidents or conditions that threaten life or safety and require immediate action, such as, but not limited to: tornado warnings (or other severe weather situations), active shooters, and chemical spills. Urgent situations are any incidents or conditions that do not pose an immediate threat to life or safety, but are of a nature where timely information or instructions may directly affect the well-being of the recipient. Examples of urgent situations include, but are not limited to: campus closure/classes cancelled, and civil disturbance.

Now that you know about IU-Notify, here’s how you sign up (for those of you that already have IU-Notify, make sure to update your contact information once a semester!):

• Go to https://onestart.iu.edu and login using your user name and passphrase.
• Click on the black tab that says “Notifications” at the top of the window.
• In the left side of the window, click on “IU-Notify”
• You should see your contact phone numbers and e-mail addresses. If anything is incorrect, correct it, then click on the “Save” button below the information
• Make sure to enter your cell phone number into the text message field! Texting is the quickest way to receive the notifications.

NOTE for all incoming freshmen: You will not be able to sign up for IU-Notify until AFTER you have registered for classes.

IU-Notify is a service that helps you stay informed as a student, faculty or staff member. The service helps you rest easy because if anything happens you’re going to be made aware immediately, even if it’s 6 a.m.