Students urged to provide emergency contacts

Cornell is upgrading its Who I Am electronic directory into an emergency contact database.

President David Skorton has sent an e-mail to all students urging them to update their electronic directory entry, accessible at http://www.whoiam.cornell.edu. Every Cornell student and employee has a "Who I Am" account.

This will enroll them in Cornells new emergency notification system that will enable campus officials to alert them immediately through phone, text messages and e-mail in the event of a large-scale emergency.

Cornells emergency plan calls for the ability to contact authorities and the entire campus population if an emergency situation occurs, as well as to provide instructions on how people should respond.

We have upgraded our abilities around voice dialing and text messaging to cell phones, said Joe Lalley, director of operations support for Facilities Services. Everyone will be asked to provide numbers where they can be reached by phone and by a text-enabled phone; other emergency contact numbers can also be listed, whether local or not. If they dont fill it out, it will make it harder for us to reach them in a genuine emergency. We want people to do whats in their best interest.

Lalley stressed that the emergency contact information will remain private and confidential, will be used only in emergencies and will not be listed in directories.

Staff and faculty will be able to add their emergency contact information later this fall.

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