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Amherst College sent a false active-shooter warning to its campus community on Aug. 26, distressing students and employees on the same day it welcomed new students. A system malfunction of the campus alert software was to blame, and the campus was not in danger, Amherst College president Michael Elliott said in a message posted on the college’s website on the day of the incident. Elliott later acknowledged that he was “appalled” that the “profoundly troubling and disturbing” false alert had caused a “great deal of confusion, fear and anxiety.”
“I am deeply sorry that this occurred,” Elliott wrote in a Sept. 1 message.
Amherst College uses the AC Alert system to notify community members of significant emergencies or dangerous situations by way of text, voice, email, digital signage and outdoor speakers. One of the two software companies that supports the system experienced a technical error while doing software maintenance and system testing that led to the false alert, Elliott said.
College officials became aware a few minutes before noon on Aug. 26 that the emergency alert system had sent messages, according to Elliott. Following an investigation, they determined that the messages were inaccurate and had not originated from campus. At 1:49 p.m., Amherst’s Twitter account tweeted, “ALERT: Please note there is no emergency. Members of our community may have received an AC alert. Please be advised that this was a system malfunction. There is no event occurring.”
Though many community members received the false emergency message from the college’s alert system, some students, faculty, staff and families did not, according to Elliott.
The alert system has been fixed, and the college has no evidence of foul play. Elliott has since outlined steps the college is taking in the aftermath of the incident, including reviewing the security practices of its emergency communications software partners, seeking assurance from the vendor in question that its safety measures are sufficient to avoid a similar incident, ensuring that all community members are enrolled in the alert system and developing a backup communication system for when the security alert system is compromised.
“Please be assured that the emergency alert system is restored and fully operational and that the vendor has fixed the technical problem that led to the incorrect alerts,” Elliott wrote in his Sept. 1 message to the Amherst College community.
