Getting Information

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I want to share with you the ways you can keep up with the news about the College and find support as you go through your cadet’s four-year career at The Citadel.

Our Office of Communication and Marketing (OCM) is the College’s main source of news and notifications during emergencies such as hurricanes.  You can follow them on a number of social media sites:

The two main sources are their:

You can also find them on:

OCM also manages a newsroom page you can access via their website:

  • Citadel Today is the webpage where OCM places articles the publish.  You can visit this page at https://today.citadel.edu/ Links to an external site.    
  • If you really want to see everything written about The Citadel, OCM has a search engine that conducts a national search for news articles that mention The Citadel which they include in a daily summary of news articles which is then  sent to a distribution list.  If you are interested in receiving this product, send Ms. Pat Lee your email at leep@citadel.edu.

Emergency Notifications:

Bulldog Alert is our campus emergency notification system.  Alerts are sent by text, email and/or a phone call.  Your cadet has the option to add up to five phone numbers.  I know you can get inundated with information from us, but this is a service we recommend you have in order to receive alerts.  We do not use this service for routine announcements.   We use it to announce safety issues on campus, class cancellations or school closure and instructions on when to return to campus in the event of an evacuation.

Only your cadet can add your information which is easily done once they get their Citadel email account by logging onto the Student Tab in Lesesne Gateway.  Over to the right there is a link that says "Update BulldogAlert Contacts".  One they enter your number they can select the method of notification.  

The Parents Page is where I post information that doesn't change very often.  You can access this page by clicking on "Parents" at the top of The Citadel's website or by clicking on  https://www.citadel.edu/root/welcome-parents Links to an external site. .  In the event we need to issue a notification out quickly, OCM will put it on their website and we will post it on the CFA Facebook page and the class pages described below.

To make sure we reach those who may not be on Social Media, I will send out an email that forwards the information.  So, you want to make sure your cadet has provided your email address to us.  Note, FERPA does not allow me to add your email address; it has to come from your cadet.  It is easy for them to do - 

  • Before Matriculation: send an email from their Citadel account to admissions@citadel.edu  requesting your email be added to their account.
  • After Matriculation: send an email from their Citadel email account to registrar@citadel.edu requesting your email address be added to their account.

We recommend getting this done before they report - they just won't have a lot of time when they get here and you don't want to miss any information.

Limited to Parents and Families only:

and specific Class Pages for the. . . 

These class pages are a great way to ask questions that other parents and families may have or already received answers.

Some Words of Caution and Conversation Starters:

  • You can Google and find a number of pages that are focused on The Citadel.  I would urge caution when participating on these sites.  Most are places where people can submit their opinions based on their experiences with the College and what they see in the news.  It is up to you what you use, but the sites I mention above are the only ones where The Citadel posts official announcements.
  • Also we recommend setting your social media privacy settings to friends only if you write something about your cadet.  If you choose to make it public to "everyone", then you don't really know who will read the post or who they will forward it to - like upperclass cadets!
  • When on social media be careful about what you think may be the actual situation on campus.  General Rosa use to show a picture Links to an external site. of the parade field underwater that went viral after a hurricane.  It was amazing the number of people who thought was real.  Of course, the picture was fake, but it did accomplish its intended purpose of getting people upset.     
  • We hope you will have a conversation with your cadet about their use of social media.  I admit I am a lot older than you and our cadets, but I continue to be amazed how young people post whatever they are thinking at the time for the whole world to see.  We hope as part of this conversation you will remind them that as cadets, they are representatives of The Citadel and, as representatives, their audiences interpret their comments and positions as The Citadel's.  I have many stories where cadets made posts online that resulted in them having to spend time away from school because of the unintended consequences of their actions.  
  • Finally, keep in mind your cadet will not always have the facts or the larger picture of what is going on at school.  When they call upset because of what they perceive to be a situation, ask them questions about where they received their information and how they verified the facts of what they have heard.  As a parent and family member your instincts will be to respond by calling the school to complain about an issue reported to you.  We would ask that instead you advise your cadet to "speak and act with courage" by getting the facts from their cadet chain of command or their TAC Officer.  If they say they don't want to or they don't feel they can speak to their TAC, then it probably is not as important as they are making it out to be. . . .and if it isn't important enough for them to pursue, then is isn't enough for you to worry about either.   You will be surprised how many crises are solved with a good night's sleep!

 

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