Emergency Alert Notification FAQs

You may not have a default media player like Windows Media Player or QuickTime Player installed. Download these players and install them on your computer to listen to messages.

Just log back into MyCoyote and update your contact information. If you opted out through text messaging 23177, simply text SUBSCRIBE CSUSB to 23177 to initiate the opt-in process.

No. Connect-ED® is required to activate the SMS system with a simple confirmation message BEFORE anyone receives a message.

Just log into MyCoyote and update your personal information. The university will refresh contact information for the Emergency Notification System regularly.

Yes - Just follow the instructions when you receive your text message. However, we strongly advise against that. It is important that we have every option available to reach you in time of a crisis.

Some mobile phone service provides will confirm that you want to receive text messages from the Cal State San Bernardino Emergency Notification System the first time you receive an emergency notification message. Follow the text message instructions, and then the emergency notification text message will be delivered.

While all faculty, staff and students are automatically enrolled to receive emergency messages, we ask that you log into MyCoyote to confirm your data. Please provide all of your contact information, including a cell phone, so the university will have more ways to reach you in the event of an emergency. Emergency notification alerts will primarily be used for emergency communication purposes.

You can opt-out of receiving cell and text messages by eliminating that number in MyCoyote. However, we strongly advise against that. It is important that we have every option available to reach you in time of a crisis. You cannot opt-out of a primary phone number or your e-mail.

There is no charge to subscribe to the service, but call and text messaging fees from cellular phone service providers could apply. Please contact your cellular provider directly for your specific rate and billing information.

The emergency notification system uses contact information from your MyCoyote account. Updates can be made by visiting MyCoyote and accessing the self-service pages. Access My Coyote and select the Student Self Service Center or the Employee tab for faculty and staff. Go to the HR Personal Info section to update phone numbers. Students will select the Permanent Phone link to update their phone contact information. Employees will access the HR Personal Info section and select phone numbers to update phone contact information. Links to tutorials on how to update this information are at the top of the FAQ page.

The system does its best to detect whether it has reached a live person or an answering machine. Sometimes loud ambient noises may cause the system to loop. If this happens, use the mute feature on your phone or move to a quieter location to prevent the message from looping or repeating.

It is university policy that we have a current main phone number for every faculty, staff and student. E-mail is an official communication vehicle for the university.

Having two IDs - 23177 or 63079 - for text messages provides a layer of redundancy and will significantly increase the ability to send more text messages in a timely manner.

Connect-ED® is one of several distinctive services that Cal State San Bernardino has contracted to support the university's emergency notification system. The Connect-ED® service is provided by the company Blackboard Connect.

While on the call, you can replay the message by pressing the star key (*) at the end of the message. You may also check your e-mail to locate the link for that message.

Alert messages will also be sent to other phone numbers and e-mail addresses you have listed in MyCoyote. In addition, emergency information will continue to be sent to campus via e-mail and voice messages to office phones, and it will be posted on the Cal State San Bernardino Web site and Emergency Hotline at (909) 537-5999. The university has also implemented a new public address system and a telephone announcement system that automatically activates all office and classroom speaker phones.

If you are a community member or someone else who erroneously receives a call, please contact the CSUSB Help Desk at (909) 537-7677 or send an e-mail to alert@csusb.edu and your number will be removed from the service immediately.

It is an emergency messaging system that can simultaneously send safety alerts to phones, e-mail addresses, text/SMS and TTY/TDD devices. It will be used only for emergency communication purposes and for occasional announcements that could be of interest to all or specific parts of the campus community.

You must update your contact information by going to MyCoyote. The university will refresh contact information for the Emergency Notification System regularly.

No. Once your phone number has been opted-in, it stays registered within the system.

To receive text messages, you will need to provide the university with your mobile phone number. Please log into MyCoyote and check the data under "Phone Numbers." Make sure your cell phone is under the Phone Type called "Cellular." Even if you have your cell phone entered under another phone type, the Connect-ED® system will not know that number can accept text/SMS messages. If you do not have a number listed for "Cellular", then add a phone number, choose the phone type "Cellular" in the drop down menu, and then type in your cell phone number. Make sure you save your data. For assistance with MyCoyote, call the Help Desk at (909) 537-7677.

No one. The cell phone number you provide in MyCoyote will remain confidential. It is uploaded into the alert@csusb.edu system for emergency notifications, but it will NOT be released to anyone else.

No. If your SMS phone was already submitted to our database, you should be confirmed to receive SMS alerts from us. However, you may also test to find out by texting the word "SUBSCRIBE CSUSB" to 23177 and you will receive a reply with the following:CSUSB Alert: This phone number has already been opted in. More info text reply "HELP" or "STOP CSUSB" to opt-out.

It is possible that we do not have your contact information loaded in the Connect-ED® service, or it may be inaccurate. All contact information is culled from MyCoyote. Log into MyCoyote and make sure you include all your contact information in the fields provided. If the correct information was already in MyCoyote, but you did not receive a test message, please e-mail alert@csusb.edu or call the Help Desk at (909) 537-7677 so we can resolve the issue.

Providing your cell phone is not mandatory. However, emergency notification messages will generally be urgent and time sensitive. Providing us more options to reach you, such as calling your cell phone or sending a text message, increases our ability to communicate important information in the event of an emergency.

Please check with your mobile phone provider to find out if your device accepts text messages. You may also want to check with your provider to see if text messaging has been enabled. You may need to subscribe to a text-messaging plan in order to receive or reply to text messages.

The university must test the Emergency Notification System to ensure it is securely in place as well as to familiarize the campus community with this important emergency communication vehicle. It will only be done three times a year, once during the fall, winter and spring quarters.

Every faculty, staff and student can list phone numbers in the following fields: a main phone, a cell phone, home phone, business phone and TDD/TTY device. A main number is required, and can be any primary phone such as for your home or mobile. Providing your cell phone is recommended so you can receive safety alerts through a text message and a voice message.

Data from MyCoyote is updated on a weekly basis, every Monday morning at 7 am. For example, if you sign up or change information on MyCoyote on a Tuesday night, that information will not be sent to Connect until the following Monday at 7 am. Therefore, you would not receive your confirmation message until Monday. The confirmation messages are sent during business hours (10 a.m. to 6 p.m. PST).

When Cal State San Bernardino sends a call out using the Connect-ED® service, it will always display Caller ID information. Please save this number on your cell phone as a contact (eg. "CSUSB Alert") to represent the university calling you.

The alert@csusb.edu service will deliver a pre-recorded message to the following phone types extracted from MyCoyote: Main phone number; Home phone number; Business phone number; Cellular or SMS text phone number; TDD/TTY device phone number You campus email address - @csusb.edu - will be used for email messages and your cellular phone number will be used for text messages. The best emergency contact number is probably your cell phone number.

The confirmation messages are sent during business hours (10 a.m. to 6 p.m. PST). The MyCoyote data is uploaded to Connect-ED® every Monday morning at approximately 7:00 am. You should expect the confirmation request to arrive sometime during the next business day.

Messages from the Emergency Notification System will have the ID 23177 or ID 63079 on text messages, (909) 537-7677 on phone messages and alert@csusb.edu on emergency e-mail messages. The campus community is encouraged to add these contacts into their cell phones under CSUSB Alert.

Foundation employees also have access to the MyCoyote self-service pages. They may update their information through these pages as well.