St. Edward’s investigating after erroneous evacuation texts

Amanda Gonzalez & Jacob Rogers|October 5, 2016

Some St. Edward’s students received a false alert to “an emergency on campus” Oct. 5. The origin of the alert appears to be from a Houston branch of Lone Star College.

There is no threat to St. Edward’s University and no need to evacuate, according to university officials. 

Some students received evacuation alerts by text message tonight. According to the University, the Houston branch of Lone Star College was the source of the erroneous texts. 

Students across the state received alerts stating there was “an emergency on campus and to calmly evacuate all buildings.” The alert was for a potential gas leak at the Lone Star College campus at University Park, located in the Houston area. That campus has been evacuated.

However, why students at St. Edward’s and other universities received the alerts is unclear. The university is investigating, as well as the University of Texas at Austin, Baylor University and Texas State University, according to their Twitter accounts. 

Universities from across the country are refuting the alerts as well. Some colleges include the University of Mississippi, University of Arkansas, Louisiana State University and more. 

Hilltop Views has reached out to university officials, but have not yet heard back.

“Please note that when we send out an alert, it will always start with an SEU Alert. Disregard any alert that does not start with SEU Alert,” the Office of Campus Safety said via Twitter.

Hilltop Views will update as the story develops.