Saved By The Bell

All NYU students received an email yesterday urging them to enter their cell phone numbers into the school’s electronic Student Information System. The database will allow university officials to communicate with students via cell phone text messages in the case of emergency: “The safety of our students, faculty, and staff is a top priority for NYU.  One of the most important tools in an emergency – whether an individual emergency or a large-scale condition which may have an impact on the whole campus – is swift communications,” explained Jules Martin, [Vice President for Public Safety], and University Registrar Yechiel Rosenrauch in the letter. [endif]

A spokeswoman at the Office of Public Affairs told the Press that the initiative is something that’s been in the works since well before last April’s massacre at Virginia Tech. Following the tragedy, many called for schools to develop better ways to communicate with their students. In July, [Virginia Tech began using a new system] that allows it to send texts to individuals' cell phones, too.

It seems that cell phones are really coming in handy these days. Just ask Eric Wright. Wright, 36, was arrested in November for allegedly shooting a drug dealer in Brooklyn and has been in prison ever since. But the man was set free yesterday after his lawyers [used cell phone records] to prove that Wright was in New Jersey, not Brooklyn, at the time of the crime. “I knew I was innocent,” the cleared Wright told reporters. Now we all have yet another reason to yap away.

Photo courtesy of [JenniferWoodardMaderazo on Flickr]