CUNY Alert allows you to receive text, email and/or voice alerts of emergencies or weather related closings on your campus. You can choose your campus or office locations, phone numbers for voice and text messages, and/or email addresses for emergency communications delivered directly to you.
Use CUNYfirst to access and manage your preferences for receiving emergency notifications from CUNY Alert. You may review and modify your contact information at any time.
New students, faculty and staff members are auto-enrolled in the CUNY Alert system. Your accounts are prefilled with your college affiliation(s) and CUNY college or business email address, with the option of adding additional contact information.
Employees who do not have CUNYfirst accounts, such as Research Foundation employees, may have previously signed up as guest users and must contact their help desk for assistance with changing their preferences or unsubscribing.
Faculty and Staff
Access CUNY Alert by logging in to CUNYfirst and then selecting the CUNY Alert Preferences link.
Students
Access CUNY Alert by logging in to CUNYfirst, clicking on the Self Service link, selecting Student Center, and then selecting To Do.
Guest Users
Should review the CUNY Alert FAQs for information on changing contact information and CUNY Alert preferences.
You are required to select at least one campus affiliation and one email address. Additionally, you may select any number of campuses, up to five email addresses, and up to five voice and five text message capable telephone numbers that you want associated with your account.
Since January 2008, our CUNY Alert emergency notification system has been used to notify the University community of emergencies via text, email, and/or phone messages. Through an arrangement between CUNY and the New York State Emergency Management Office, CUNY Alert uses the state’s all-hazards alert and notification system, NY-Alert. The alerts may be college specific or University-wide.
Yes, CUNY Alert is a University-wide system, available to the CUNY community, which includes students, faculty, and staff.
CUNY Alert provides the CUNY community with a secure system for receiving emergency information. By keeping you informed and aware, the alert system can help you avoid potentially dangerous situations and notify you of college closings. With CUNY Alert, you have the information you need before you get out the door.
Since CUNY Alert preferences are managed by each user, you select how you want to be notified. You may choose as many CUNY locations as you like, up to five email addresses, and up to ten telephone numbers (five text message capable and five voice). The result is that you can receive alerts virtually anywhere, whether you are at school, work, home, or on the go.
You will receive messages for emergency events that are disruptive or have the potential to be disruptive, such as extreme weather conditions. One example was Hurricane Sandy, when alerts were sent to the University community regarding flooding conditions, power failure, and campus and office closures. Advisories were also sent concerning those areas of public transportation that were impacted by the storm. Information was even provided about shelter locations. Updates were continually sent until the crisis was over.
In addition to severe weather advisories, you will be notified of anything that affects public safety for the CUNY community, such as police activity, flooding, or power outages. The severity of the warning may vary and CUNY Alert messages can range from specific instructions to general warnings.
Students: New students and students who have not already enrolled in CUNY Alert may do so by logging in to CUNYfirst and clicking on the Self Service link, selecting Student Center, and then selecting To Do. At least one campus and one email address must be selected to sign up.
New and Current Faculty and Staff: If you are a new faculty or staff member, and you have a CUNYfirst account, you will be auto-enrolled in the CUNY Alert system. Your accounts will be pre-filled with your college affiliation(s) and CUNY business email address, with the option of adding additional contact information.
Guest Users: CUNY Alert no longer supports new guest users.
For Faculty and Staff: Log in to CUNYfirst and click on the CUNY Alert Preferences link within Self Service.
For Students: Log in to CUNYfirst, click on the Self Service link, select Student Center, and then select To Do.
You may modify or add locations (campuses and University offices). You may also modify or add phone (text and voice) numbers, and email addresses.
For Guest Users: Contact your college help desk to request changes to your CUNY Alert contact information.
Only students and existing guest users can unsubscribe. Guest users should contact their college help desk to unsubscribe from CUNY Alert.
Please note that the number of alerts you receive will vary depending on circumstances. You may receive very few alerts and then receive a flurry of notifications during a dynamic situation such as a hurricane, or a single alert announcing a weather-related closing.
Check your CUNY Alert preferences in CUNYfirst to review your personal information. Please be aware that if you chose to be notified by more than one CUNY campus, you may receive multiple copies of alerts across all of the channels that you subscribed for – voice, email, and text.
Check your CUNY Alert profile in CUNYfirst to confirm you provided the correct telephone number to receive text messages. If you are not receiving other text messages on the telephone number, you may need to contact your mobile service carrier. If you are only missing CUNY Alert text messages, please contact your college help desk for assistance.
No. CUNY Alert is an automated outbound messaging service distributed from unmonitored sources, including a “do not reply” email account and a telephone number that only plays a recorded message if you call it back.
If you cannot access CUNYfirst because your password expired or you do not remember your password, use the Forgot Password option on the CUNY Login page to reset your password.
If you do not have access to CUNYfirst because your employment ended, please contact your college help desk for assistance.
No. CUNY sends a CUNY Alert test message at least once a year to confirm that the system is operating correctly. The test message is clearly identified as such and subscribers are notified in advance.