Dear Mason Community,
This morning, our community received an alert that there was a dangerous person on our campus. This was an error.
The message was sent inadvertently by one of the university’s emergency notification system software vendors. It was not initiated by anyone on our campus. There was never a threat reported on the Fairfax Campus. Within minutes of receiving this message, the university immediately sent out a message letting the campus know that this was an error.
We understand that this was a frightening experience for our community and apologize for the fear it may have caused.
Environmental Health and Safety is working with the university’s emergency notification system providers to determine how this message was sent and to prevent future incidents. It appears that this message was triggered by an automated process linked to a test conducted by the emergency notification system vendor in question. Once we have more information about this incident, we will share it with our community.
Thank you for your patience.
Respectfully,
David Farris, PhD
Executive Director of Safety & Emergency Management
George Mason University
