Safety and Emergency Information

Lake Michigan College is committed to providing a safe environment that is conducive to the pursuit of academic excellence. Pursuant to its obligations under federal, state and local laws/regulations, the college has established an Emergency Preparedness and response plan that provides protective measures for the health and safety of our students and staff during an emergency situation. The college, through its partnerships with Emergency Management Professionals, continues to upgrade the plan. Emergency Teams made up of individual members of the college community have been designated as team members to assist in helping others to evacuate. They also relay information concerning injured or special-needs people who require immediate attention. Emergency information is located in all classrooms along with a detailed map which highlights fire exits, emergency shelter areas, fire extinguisher locations, defibrillators, etc. Evacuation notification would be by use of the fire alarm system in some cases, but not all. The emergency system plan effectiveness is measured through testing of practice drills.

Distribution of Campus Safety Alerts
As circumstances warrant it, special safety alerts are prepared and distributed through the RaveAlert reporting service. These alerts advise the college community of the situation, steps to take, and the number to call for more information.

Lake Michigan College works closely with local law enforcement agencies to inform the College about crimes that may warrant the College issuing a timely warning.

Emergency Notification
Emergency notification will be issued when it is determined that there is a significant emergency or dangerous situation involving an immediate threat to the health or safety of students, employees or visitors occurring on campus.

Emergency notifications will be activated without delay upon verification of an incident that meets the above criteria so long as issuance does not compromise efforts to respond to, contain, or otherwise mitigate the emergency.

RaveAlert is an automated system that LMC uses to inform employees and students of College emergencies. RaveAlert utilizes cell phone text messaging, email and voicemail notifications.

In addition to the information above, area coordinators and alternates have been designated per assigned area to assist with emergency situations in helping to clear spaces of people and directing people to move to a safe location.

Emergency Procedures

RaveAlert is an automated system that Lake Michigan College uses to inform students of important campus information such as weather-related campus closings and campus emergencies. The message can be delivered as a voice message to a landline telephone or cell phone, as a text message to a cell phone, and/or as an email message.

You will automatically be registered for the service at the time of class registration based on telephone and email information you provide to the College.

Updating your RaveAlert Contact Information
Your RaveAlert contact information is maintained in Student Profile.

1. Go to Student Profile and login with your login name (ex. jsmith543).
2. Click on the View/Update Address(es) and Phone(s) link under the Personal Information box.
3. Read all instructions at the top of this page to understand the process of changing your contact information.
4. To change your land line number for your current address, change the "Primary Phone Number for this Address" number (269 for the area code and 5551234 for the phone number).
   You can also use the drop downs below and specify other types of phone numbers and enter in the appropriate information.
5. Once you are done making updates, make sure the "Valid From This Date" option is a valid day on or before today's date and click submit.
6. Changes will become effective immediately.

Opt-Out Process
To opt out from receiving alerts, please send an email using your LMC provided student email account to RaveAlertOptOut@lakemichigancollege.edu. Include your first and last name and student ID in the body of the email. The opt-out process must be repeated for each term you desire to be excluded from receiving alerts.

Notice: General fees from your cell phone carrier may apply when using this service. Lake Michigan College is not responsible for any fees that may be charged by your cell phone carrier for voice and text messages sent to your cell phone. This includes overages on your monthly minutes and/or fees your carrier may charge for text messaging.

Timely Alerts
If circumstances warrant it, special timely crime alerts are prepared and distributed through the RaveAlert reporting service. These alerts advise the College community of the situation, steps to take to avoid being victimized, and the number to call for more information.

When the College closes due to severe weather or other campus emergencies, the announcements will be made in several ways:

1. through the College's RaveAlert System (see above for instructions on updating your contact information or opting out of RaveAlert)
2. on the home page (in most cases dependent on the availability of internet access to college officials)
3. through local television and radio stations
4. through College Facebook and Twitter pages

Please check these various sources of information for closing information rather than calling the College. If the College is closed, you will be able to find out through one or more of the above sources.

Inclement Weather Procedure

It is the practice of Lake Michigan College (LMC) to maintain normal College operations on all regularly scheduled days, except in those cases when severe weather conditions prevent this.

If the College is open, students will make their own determination concerning attendance on unfavorable travel days, based on personal judgments and the conditions of each unique situation. In instances where travel is perilous, students must communicate their absence to the instructor. Faculty are encouraged to be flexible in their classroom policies regarding make-up work for students who are unable to get to classes due to severe weather conditions.

1. Given unfavorable weather conditions, the College may take one of the following actions:
   1. remain open;
   2. delay the opening of College and require only personnel providing essential services to report to work prior to opening;
   3. close the College and require only personnel providing essential services to report to work.
2. In making the decision of whether or not to close, the College considers a number of factors including assessment of current travel and weather conditions throughout the College’s entire district. Conditions can vary greatly from one location to another, so the College strives to make the best decision for the majority of its students. Other factors considered in the decision include:
   
   1. overall road conditions – particularly main routes throughout the entire district, rather than localized conditions;
   2. visibility – consistently poor or intermittent due to wind gusts;
   3. short-term forecasts/radar – as an indicator of more immediate storm intensity and duration;
   4. whether parking lots can be kept plowed for access;
   5. whether law enforcement officials are requesting that travel be limited;
   6. whether area businesses are closing.

   There may be days when many or most K-12 school systems are closed, but LMC is open. K-12 systems have additional factors to take into consideration that the College does not, including their ability to maneuver buses on rural, snow-narrowed streets, as well as having young children stand at bus stops or walk to school.

3. When weather conditions appear hazardous, the following actions will be taken:
   
   1. For daytime schedules, the College will make every effort to communicate a decision to delay the opening of the College or close entirely before 6 a.m.
   2. For evening schedules, the College will make every effort to communicate a decision to close the College by 3:00 p.m.
   3. There is a possibility that LMC would cancel all day classes and hold evening classes. Additionally, there is a possibility that LMC would close individual campuses (Benton Harbor, South Haven or Niles).
   4. Closing decisions for LMC classes held at off-site, non-campus locations will be the same as the class location facility decision.
   5. Up-to-date information regarding class cancellations and College closures will be communicated for students on the College’s website and at (269) 927-8100.
   6. College delays or closures will be reported to area radio and television stations. In addition, an “everyone” message will be sent through Rave Alert to College e-mail addresses and home phone numbers of LMC faculty, staff, and students unless they have opted out of the service. Employees and students wanting alerts through cell phone numbers and/or home e-mail addresses must enter information through their Student Profile accounts. 
   7. If the College is open, instructor absences will be reported as they occur via LMC’s website.

Definition of terms

Severe weather

The condition in this region which typically means excessive snow and/or ice which makes driving hazardous. It could also refer to other hazardous conditions, such as tornado or severe thunderstorm forecasts.

The College has delayed opening

Only personnel providing essential services before the specified opening time will be asked to report to campus or may be called in. Staff should report to work one-half hour before the designated opening time. Students should report to class at the designated opening time. If a student’s class begins before the designated opening time that class would be canceled unless one-hour of instruction remains after the designated opening time.

The College is closed

Only personnel providing essential services that day will be asked to report to campus or may be called in.

The College is open

Decisions to attend school are the responsibility of each individual student and faculty and staff member. Students are advised to inform their instructors of a decision to miss class by telephoning their instructor.