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Students Aren't Signing Up for Text Alert Systems

Posted Feb 28, 08 6:15 PM CST in US,  Arts & Living 

(Newser) – Campus shootings keep making headlines, and schools are increasingly adopting text message alert systems as a response—but students aren't jumping on the bandwagon, the AP reports. Experts chalk up low enrollment rates to students' sense of invincibility, unwillingness to reveal personal information and the cost of receiving texts. "It will take time to earn their trust," said one spokesman.

Still, Northern Illinois University relies solely on email and voice alerts; at Virginia Tech, 6 in 10 students have signed up for the new texting service. But reaching a quarter of a campus is sufficient: "They're going to start spreading the word," one expert said. Meanwhile, security specialists are calling for all-inclusive alert systems that also include loudspeakers, sirens and cameras.

Source Associated Press

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Megan Verbeck, St. Louis, checks her phone for a new text message while working on projects at Ellis Library at the University of Missouri, Friday, Feb. 22, 2008, in Columbia, Mo. Verbeck sent text messages...   (Associated Press)
Megan Verbeck, St.Louis, Mo., checks her phone for a new text message while working on projects at Ellis Library at the University of Missouri, Friday, Feb. 22, 2008, in Columbia, Mo. Verbeck sent text...   (Associated Press)
While hundreds of campuses have adopted a system of emergency text message alerts, most students are not participating, despite considering their mobile phones indispensable in other daily activities.   (Shutterstock.com)
Mourners at Northern Illinois University console each other after placing flowers at a memorial for the five victims of the Valentines Day shooting on the campus of NIU in DeKalb, Ill., Sunday, Feb. 17,...   (Associated Press)
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NIU Students TAKE A STAND Against WBC   (niuhonor (YouTube))
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cell phones  • shooting  • Virginia Tech shootings  • Virginia Tech  • Northern Illinois University  • texting  • campus shooting  • campus violence


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