Fayetteville Policies and Procedures  205.0 

RazALERTs: Emergency Alerts, Operational Status, Safety Warnings and General Awareness Notifications

The policy of the University of Arkansas is to issue RazALERTs (pronounced ‘RAISE-alerts’), as defined below, in an effort to notify community members in a timely manner of significant threats to the health or safety of the campus community, specific weather emergencies, changes in the operational status of the university, about certain types of crimes in our community, and non-emergency campus notifications. 

Crisis Flow Chart

Process for Issuing RazALERTs (Emergency Alerts, Safety Warnings and Campus Notifications) 

RazALERTs involving Immediate Action Required, Operational Status or Safety Warnings are automatically sent to the campus community via all available channels. To receive emergency alerts and safety warnings via cell phone/text, students, faculty and staff must provide their cell phone numbers and designate it as 'mobile' in Workday or Workday Student.  

RazALERTs in the General Information category are added to the notification log on the RazALERT site (alerts.uark.edu) and may also be distributed via one or more of the other available channels.  

If a situation arises either on- or off-campus that, in the judgment of the UAPD Chief of Police or designee, constitutes an ongoing or continuing threat to the safety of the campus community, the Chief of UAPD, Dean of Students, and the Associate Vice Chancellor for University Relations and/or their designees are responsible for consulting on a case-by-case basis when information should be disseminated as an active threat or as a safety warning and will attempt to consult for final approval before the RazALERT is issued. 

If those individuals or designees are unavailable or immediate notification is necessary, such as in an active threat or tornado warning situation, the Chief of UAPD or designee may issue the emergency alert without such review. Emergency alerts may only be withheld if they would compromise efforts to assist a victim or to contain, respond to, or otherwise mitigate the emergency.  

Emergency RazALERTs (Immediate Action Required and Operational Status Impacts)  

Issued when immediate attention or action is required of the campus community due to dangerous situations that are currently occurring on campus or imminently threatening the health or safety of students or employees on campus including tornado warnings (when campus is in the trajectory of a tornado) and when inclement weather conditions or other situations impact university operations.  

  • Emergency RazALERTs are sent to students, faculty and staff automatically via all available channels including text (for those who have provided their cell phone number and designated it as ‘mobile’ in Workday or Workday Student), university email and phones, as well as being posted to campus digital boards and alerts.uark.edu.  
  • Social media will be utilized when appropriate as a supporting communication platform. 
  • UAPD has primary responsibility for initiating RazALERTs for Active Threats and Tornado Warnings. University Relations (UREL) has primary responsibility for sending follow-up messages with UAPD as a backup. If a tornado threatens the campus directly and the campus community needs to seek shelter, UAPD will have primary responsibility to sound campus warning sirens, activate the RazALERT system and update alerts.uark.edu. 
  • University Relations has primary responsibility for initiating RazALERTs pertaining to Operational Status including Inclement Weather Operations, Delayed Openings and Early Dismissals. UAPD and UREL share responsibility for adding messages to the RazALERTs page (alerts.uark.edu). UAPD leads updates to the site for Active Threats, Tornado Warnings and Safety Warnings. UREL serves as a backup to UAPD for those updates while leading the updates for Operational Status changes, General Awareness Notifications and updating the notification log. UREL is also responsible for updating primary social media channels, and the university’s primary information line (575-2000); and contacts local broadcast and online media including campus media (KUAF, UATV and KXUA).  
  • Guidelines for inclement weather operations on campus are detailed in the following policies: Weather Emergency Procedure (FPP 211.0) and Inclement Weather Policy (FPP 210.0) 

Non-Emergency RazALERTS (Safety Warnings)  

Safety Warnings are issued when reported crimes that have already occurred on or near institutional property are considered by the institution to represent a serious or continuing threat to the campus community. Safety warnings (defined as “timely warnings” by the Jeanne Clery Disclosure of Campus Security Policy and Campus Crime Statistics Act) contain information to promote safety and allow individuals to protect themselves and include the time, location, type of crime, and available descriptive information of suspect(s) if available. 

  • Safety Warnings are sent to students, faculty and staff automatically via all available channels including text (for those who have provided their cell phone number and designated it as ‘mobile’ in Workday or Workday Student), university email and phones, as well as being posted to alerts.uark.edu.  
  • Social media will be utilized when appropriate as a supporting communication platform. 
  • UAPD will have a primary responsibility for initiating safety warnings. University Relations will have a secondary responsibility for initiating safety warnings if necessary. 
  • Decided on a case-by-case basis depending on the particular circumstances of the crime or emergency, bulletins may be posted at appropriate locations around campus including bulletin boards, electronic bulletin boards, residence halls, entrances to buildings and other available electronic media. 

Non-Emergency RazALERTs (General Awareness Notification, Potential for Severe Weather, Planning for Normal Operations) 

General Awareness Notifications and other non-emergency RazALERTs are issued to notify the campus community of ongoing situations or situations that have already occurred that have been determined not to meet the criteria for the issuance of an emergency alert or Safety Warning as defined by the Jeanne Clery Disclosure of Campus Security Policy and Campus Crime Statistics Act. Examples include incidents of an isolated nature that do not present an ongoing or continuing threat to the safety of campus and non-criminal incidents such as a flu outbreak, limited gas leak or contained chemical spill, unscheduled street closings, cancellations of transit routes, potential for severe weather or plans for normal operations before or after inclement weather, all considered on a case-by-case basis.  

  • General Awareness RazALERTs are not required communications. They are meant to provide the university with an additional communication option in situations where emergency alerts and/or Safety Warnings are not mandated. 
  • General Awareness and other non-emergency RazALERTs are posted at alerts.uark.edu. Additional available communication channels may also be used on a case-by-case basis at the discretion of University Relations. 
  • UREL will have primary responsibility for issuing General Awareness Notifications. UAPD will have a secondary responsibility if necessary. 

Anyone with information warranting a RazALERT of any kind should report the circumstances to the University of Arkansas Police Department at 479-575-2222 or call 911.  

Other Notifications 

Other campus communications will originate from UREL or other authorized campus entities. News.uark.edu is the primary source for university news and information, but email and/or social media may be used for specific safety-related messaging that does not meet the criteria for RazALERTs.  

Timely Manner 

For the purposes of this policy, notification in a "timely manner" means that upon confirmation by the University of Arkansas Police Department (UAPD), the campus community will be immediately notified of any significant emergency or dangerous situation involving an immediate threat to the health or safety of students or staff, unless, in the professional judgment of responsible authorities, the warning will compromise efforts to assist a victim or to contain, respond to, or otherwise mitigate the emergency. Confirmation time may vary depending on the specific situation and information received. 

The University of Arkansas complies with the Jeanne Clery Disclosure of Campus Security Policy and Campus Crime Statistics Act as mandated by the U.S. Department of Education.  

Revised June 8, 2026
Revised March 2, 2021
Revised April 13, 2020
Revised October 12, 2015
Revised August 24, 2015
Reformatted for Web May 13, 2014
November 2008