In the wake of the Virginia Tech tragedy, college administrators, students, faculty and parents have become hyper-sensitive about the time it takes for a campus to be notified of an emergency.
Last April it took several hours for students to receive formal notification from the University of a bomb threat on campus. Subsequent emergency test e-mails took a matter of minutes. But even if e-mails appear in an inbox minutes after a threat is discovered, the chances that students would be at a computer or checking their University e-mail accounts are slim.