CSU Channel Islands (CI) has implemented a new emergency communication system, CI Alert, to allow University officials the ability to reach the University community with time-sensitive information during unforeseen events or emergencies using voice, e-mail, text messaging/SMS, and TTY/TDD methods.
There is no charge to subscribe to the service, but call and text messaging fees from cell phone service providers may apply.
Students, staff, and faculty may verify and update their current CI Alert contact information by logging into myCI and click the "My Apps" tab to review their CI Alert Contact Information. If the information that is listed is incorrect, please update it by clicking the "Edit" link.
CI Alert is an emergency messaging system that can simultaneously send safety alerts to telephones, e-mail addresses, text/SMS and TTY/TDD devices. It will only be used for emergency communication purposes and for occasional announcements that could be of interest to all or specific parts of the campus community.
CI Alert uses contact information from your myCI account. Updates can be made by visiting myCI and accessing the "CI Alert Contact Information" section under the "My Apps" tab. Click the Edit link to update your contact information. The telephone numbers you provide will remain confidential and will NOT be released to anyone else.
While all faculty, staff and students are automatically enrolled to receive messages via @csuci.edu and @myci.csuci.edu email addresses, we ask that everyone review and update their additional information in myCI. To do this, log into myCI and click the “My Apps” tab. Click the Edit link in the “CI Alert Contact Information” section. 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.
Log into myCI and navigate to the “My Apps” tab. Click edit in the “CI Alert Contact Information” section. Provide your mobile phone number and check “Also Send Text Message to Mobile Phone.” The CI Alert service will automatically send a text message within 24 hours to your cellphone to confirm your request. This occurs during business hours between 10 a.m. – 6 p.m. PST.
The confirmation message will read the following:
CI Alert: You are now confirmed to receive alerts from us. For more info text reply "HELP" or "STOP CIALERT" to opt-out.
If you reply HELP, you will receive the message:
CI Alert notifications. Users will receive relevant alerts as needed. For more info www.blackboardconnect.com/sms or sms@blackboardconnect.com. To opt-out text “STOP CIALERT”
You will see 23177 as the text messaging number sending you the confirmation message and all subsequent messages. Please save this number and program it as CI Alert so that you can quickly recognize this number as the official source of CSU Channel Islands messages.
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.
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” to 23177 and you will receive a reply with the following:
CI Alert: This phone number has already been opted in. More info text reply "HELP" or "STOP CIALERT" to opt-out.
At a minimum, the CI community will always receive CI Alert messages via their on-campus email addresses (@csuci.edu and @myci.csuci.edu). To stop receiving messages on some or all of your CI Alert registered phone numbers, simply remove the number(s) from the “CI Alert Contact Information” section in myCI and save your changes. To do this, log into myCI and click the “My Apps” tab. Click the Edit link in the “CI Alert Contact Information” section. Remove the phone number(s) and click the save button. You may follow the same steps to stop receiving messages at your alternate email address.
You may opt-out at any time by texting “STOP CIALERT” or “QUIT CIALERT” to 23177. You may also uncheck the “Also Send Text Message to Mobile Phone” option in myCI.
You may request to begin receiving text messages by texting “SUBSCRIBE CIALERT" to 23177. Make sure that you have the “Also Send Text Message to Mobile Phone” option in myCI checked.
No. Once your phone number has been opted-in, it stays registered within the system.
No, you will not receive messages. If you are not part of the University’s contact database, and you try to subscribe, you will receive the message:
You have not followed the Opt-In/Out process correctly. More info text HELP or go to www.blackboardconnect.com/sms
Log into myCI, click the "My Apps" tab and click the Edit link in the "CI Alert Contact Information" section. The University will regularly refresh the contact information into the CI Alert system.
CI Alert can deliver voice and text messages to the following phone types extracted from myCI: home, mobile, alternate mobile, and TDD/TTY device phone numbers. In addition, the system can also send email messages to your on-campus email address (@myci.csuci.edu for students or @csuci.edu for faculty/staff) and an alternate email address.
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.
Alert messages will also be sent to other telephone numbers and e-mail addresses you have listed in myCI. In addition, emergency information will continue to be sent to campus via e-mail and voice messages to office telephones, and it will be posted on the CSU Channel Islands Web site home page and the University’s emergency hotline at (805) 437-3911. The University has also implemented a new public address system and a telephone announcement system that automatically activates all office and classroom speaker telephones.
There is no charge to subscribe to the service, but call and text messaging fees from cellular phone service providers may apply. Please contact your cell phone provider directly for your specific rate and billing information.
The University must test CI Alert 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 twice a year -- once during the fall and spring semesters.
It is possible that we do not have your contact information loaded in the CI Alert service, or it may be inaccurate. Updates can be made by visiting myCI and accessing the “CI Alert Contact Information” section under the “My Apps” tab. Click the Edit link to make any necessary modifications to your contact information. If the correct information was already in myCI, but you did not receive a text message, please call the Help Desk at (805) 437-8552 for assistance.
If you erroneously receive a call, please contact the Help Desk at (805) 437-8552 or send an e-mail to helpdesk@csuci.edu.
You will receive one message per phone line, email address, and SMS device. Phone lines may include: home, work or cell phone number. The CI Alert system will notify your on-campus email address (@myci.csuci.edu for students or @csuci.edu for faculty/staff) and your alternate email address, if applicable.
The speed of the message will vary with the size of the audience, network congestion and time of day. The mass communication system used by CI Alert includes sophisticated methods of call routing, throttling and load balancing to adjust to congestion that can occur among telecommunication providers.
For busy signals, the call will be repeated twice in an attempt to reach you. The same is true for no-answer and call-waiting. If the phone is answered by a message recorder, the message will be left on the answering device. If, after several attempts the call does not successfully go through, the system will stop attempting and report your number to be busy.
No. CI Alert cannot traverse an automated answering system. Mary and John will not receive the alert.
No, the system will remove duplicate phone numbers during call delivery. Note: If you have multiple voicemail boxes at one telephone number, the system is unable to leave a voicemail message.
This might happen if you have call forwarding activated to forward calls to another telephone number or voicemail. By deactivating this feature, you should resume receiving messages from us.
