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Cornell University

Public Safety Communications Center

Division of Public Safety

Biannual EMN Testing

Test Information

Fall 2025: On Wednesday, September 10th, 2025, at 12:10 p.m., Cornell University conducted the fall 2025 biannual test of its Emergency Mass Notification (EMN) systems. A summary can be found in the “Test Results” section below.

Spring 2026: Test scheduled for Wednesday, February 4th, 2026.

EMN systems are critical for emergency response. To stay informed during an emergency, all Cornell community members are strongly encouraged to provide emergency contact information and opt in to receive text or voice alerts on their personal cell phone at https://emergency.cornell.edu/alert/

Cornell is committed to protecting the health and safety of its students, faculty, and staff. Emergency communications are designed to alert authorities and the campus community when an emergency occurs and to provide instructions for any necessary response. Learn more about emergency preparedness and familiarize yourself with emergency actions and public safety terms at https://emergency.cornell.edu/


Test Results

Fall 2025

EMN Alert Summary – Fall 2025 (PDF)

On Wednesday, September 10, 2025, at 12:10 p.m., Cornell University conducted a semiannual test of the CornellALERT emergency notification system. This test involved disseminating the testing message to multiple communication platforms. Such as the siren/PA systems comprised of 4 locations across campus, voice, email, and SMS (text) messaging campaigns, desktop takeover methods of alerting, RSS feeds to social media sites, and the Rave Guardian app. Each platform was monitored and assessed both during and after the test, and it was determined to be successful.

Alertus Messaging indicated a failure in the alert report, but it was completed successfully. The failure indicator is the integration between Alertus and Rave. The system is operating normally. The reporting process takes too long to complete and times out, resulting in a cancellation. The Facebook platform was not tested in this test, as it has been removed from auto-posting on Rave. In the event of an alert, the alerts will be posted to these two pages manually by the page administrators.

Due to a template error, the campus digital signage was not included in the test, as it was not selected. A testing date and time for the campus digital signage will be identified and tested. The digital signage test follow-up was completed on October 7, 2025, with success. It was noted that some of the messages were truncated in the display. As of October 31, 2025, DPS and Cornell CIT are reviewing the messaging length and character changes for campus signage to ensure the full message displays. A Spring EMN test has been scheduled for February 4, 2026.

Spring 2025

On Wednesday, February 5th, 2025, at 12:10 p.m., Cornell University conducted a semi-annual test of the CornellALERT emergency notification systems. This test included the dissemination of the testing message to multiple communication platforms. Such as the siren/PA systems comprised of 4 locations across campus, voice, email, and SMS (text) messaging campaigns, digital signage, desktop takeover methods of alerting, RSS feeds to social media sites, and the Rave Guardian app.

Each platform was monitored and assessed during and after the test and determined successful. Alertus Messaging indicated a failure in the alert report, but it was completed successfully. The failure indicator is the integration between Alertus and Rave. The system is operating normally. The reporting takes too long to complete and times out, causing a cancellation.

Facebook for the Cornell University Police also indicated a failure due to an authentication issue with Cornell University and Cornell Police Facebook feeds. Alerts will be posted to these two pages manually by the page administrators. Cornell University auto-posting to Twitter also failed due to an Unauthorized type error. DPS Communications and University Strategic Communications will be troubleshooting. In the meantime, all CornellALERTs will be posted manually to this platform. Twitter error is the only follow-up from this test. All testing methods were successful. A Fall 2025 Test date will be determined in Spring 2025.