CUNY Alert

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, the CUNY Alert service is hosted by Everbridge as part of 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 and from a variety of notification methods, including email addresses, telephone numbers for SMS text messaging enabled devices and telephone numbers for voice calls. 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 are enrolled in CUNY Alert automatically. Students should confirm their location and notification preferences by logging in to CUNYfirst, clicking the CUNY Alert Preferences link and making updates as required.

New 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 notification preferences. If you do not have a CUNYfirst account, you will need to register as a Guest user.

Guest Users: University employees without access to CUNYfirst and interested parties, such as parents or contractors doing business at CUNY, can set up a guest account to receive CUNY Alert notifications using the Everbridge guest account portal.

For Students, Faculty and Staff: Log in to CUNYfirst and click on the CUNY Alert Preferences link.

For Guest Users: See the CUNY Alert Guest Account Instructions for instructions on changing notification preferences.

Only students and guest users can unsubscribe: students can do so in CUNYfirst and guest users can remove notification methods or delete their guest account (see the CUNY Alert Guest Account Instructions for more information).

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 notification preferences in CUNYfirst or for guest users, the Everbridge guest account portal, 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 or for guest users, the Everbridge guest account portal, to confirm you provided the correct SMS capable telephone number to receive text messages.
• If you replied to a CUNY Alert text message with a STOP command, you can restore CUNY Alert text messages by sending a RESUME command.
• 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.

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.

Questions about the CUNY Alert service should be directed to your campus help desk.

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 no longer 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.