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Virginia Tech released the text of its emails sent to students during this morning’s rampage. These were published by the Associated Press.

Here’s the third e-mail sent at 4:17 am HT, which was 3 hours after the first shooting.

Subject: All Classes Canceled; Stay where you are

“Virginia Tech has canceled all classes. Those on campus are asked to remain where there are, lock their doors and stay away from windows. Persons off campus are asked not to come to campus.”

Previous posts:

12:51 pm HT: Virginia Tech waited 2 hours before notifying campus of initial shootings

9:45 am HT: Virginia Tech shootings highlight the need for campus emergency notification system

April 11: University of Florida and Mobile Campus

According to the Associated Press, Virginia Tech officials did not make an announcement about the initial set of shootings today until two hours after the attack. officials assumed the shooter had already fled campus.

We now know the shooter went to a classroom building across campus and killed over 30 people.

Students are complaining that the first announcement was late, and that it was delivered by email instead of the public address system in campus buildings.

Previous posts:

9:45 am: Virginia Tech shootings highlight the need for campus emergency notification system

April 11: University of Florida and Mobile Campus

The sad events today at Virginia Tech should cause more university administrators to examine systems like Mobile Campus. I discussed this system on April 11, and noted that University of Florida officials use this system to tell students and staff about campus closings.

A text messaging system pushes information to subscribed users. The state of Hawaii is considering a similar system to send text messages to citizens about tsunamis, earthquakes, and traffic jams.

CNN quoted several students who said they were unaware of what was happening until they saw armed police officers in their classroom building. Some students and staff learned about the shootings when they checked the university web site. As we learned on October 15, timely official information can keep people from reacting to rumors.