More than 4,500 University of Wisconsin faculty, staff and
students have registered for the WiscAlert-Text Messaging program since the
sign-up process began last Thursday.

The WiscAlert-Text Messaging program allows members of the
campus community to receive text messages on their cell phones in the case of a
campus emergency. The program is designed to complement UW’s mass e-mail,
broadcast voicemail and Parent Program to create an additional avenue for
conveying alerts.

According to UW spokesperson John Lucas, UW’s goal is to
have 8,000-9,000 registered users by the start of the fall semester.

“The way we expect to start building the population is
by advisers pitching it to incoming freshmen,” most likely at Student
Orientation and Registration, Lucas said.

“It’s one more tool in the toolbox in terms of
notifying the campus,” he added.

While the system is currently functional, UW Police
Department Lt. Michael Newton said UWPD is training officers to be on-call
managers in charge of deciding what type of communication method is necessary
for a given situation. He added the on-call manager would be able to send the
WiscAlert from anywhere he or she could get computer access.

“It’s definitely helpful because of the fact that we
can get communications out pretty rapidly,” Newton said of the new system.
“We never intend to use one single mode because people are in different
places in different times.”

Newton added he hopes a lot of people would register for the
system because he thinks it is a very effective tool for increasing campus
safety, and wants better participation than other campuses with similar text
message programs.

“Nationally, you see about 20 to 30 percent signup, but
we’d like to see much more than that,” Newton said.

UW community members interested can register by logging into
MyUW and clicking on the WiscAlerts logo.