Georgetown University’s Newspaper of Record since 1920

The Hoya

Georgetown University’s Newspaper of Record since 1920

The Hoya

Georgetown University’s Newspaper of Record since 1920

The Hoya

GU To Move Web Server Off Campus

A review of the university’s emergency preparedness procedures has prompted university officials to move management of Georgetown’s Web site to an off-campus location, administrators said.

David Morrell, vice president for university safety, said that current management procedures for the Web site were the only major vulnerability exposed by the review. He said that an off-campus manager was needed in the event that the Web site’s on-campus management was rendered inoperable in a disaster.

University spokeswoman Julie Bataille said that off-campus management of the Web site is necessary to keep the university community updated and informed in times of crisis.

“As a first step, [University Information Services] has worked to create a temporary Web site that could be available if the need arose,” Bataille said.

Morrell noted that Tulane University in New Orleans was able to keep its Web site operable off-campus despite extensive damage to the university from Hurricane Katrina, allowing officials to keep students, parents and staff updated on important announcements.

“If you look at what Tulane did with their Web site, they were able to maintain communication with their community throughout Katrina,” Morrell said.

Morrell and Bataille both said that the review of Georgetown’s emergency preparation plan was prompted by the hurricane and questions that it raised about emergency preparedness.

“As a result of Hurricanes Katrina and Rita we are looking at a variety of issues to learn from the experiences of those who have had to respond to these disasters,” Bataille said.

Morrell said that there were no plans to alter Georgetown’s current emergency preparedness plan beyond management of the Web site.

He added that the university is ready to handle not just natural disasters, but other incidents, such as a plane crash or air contamination. Georgetown has made a broad effort to train its personnel, educate the community and test the campus alert system to prepare for potential disasters, he said.

Morrell added, however, that students should familiarize themselves with all of Georgetown’s emergency procedures. He said that this information is available on the emergency preparedness Web site, preparedness.georgetown.edu.

Morrell said that students should always evacuate a building when a fire alarm is sounded and stay inside if the university’s steam whistles sound, signaling outside contamination.

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