Emergency Text Alerts Not Reaching Most People on UW Campuses

On March 5, University of Wisconsin-Madison junior Eric Cardinal was working the late shift at a Shell station near campus when he read a text alert from the university warning of a suspected shooter on the loose: “Police looking for Male/Black wearing red & black flannel shirt headed west out of University Houses.”

Then Cardinal saw a man in his store duck, as a police car rolled through the parking lot. 

“That’s when I assumed he was one of the suspects they were looking for,” Cardinal said.

In the wake of campus shootings the past five years, police throughout the nation are using text alerts to deliver warnings and advice to students in emergency situations. The concise messages from the Safety Awareness For Everyone system are delivered to all students, faculty and staff — except, at many campuses, for those who haven’t signed up.

Only three of the University of Wisconsin System’s 13 four-year campuses — Platteville, Stevens Point and Parkside — have more than half of students, faculty and staff signed up to receive text alerts, according to a review by the Wisconsin Center for Investigative Journalism.

The overall participation rate for all 13 campuses is about 32 percent, the center found, based on data from each campus. Some campuses provided exact counts, while others only had estimates.

At UW-Milwaukee, only 28 percent of the students and staff are enrolled in the system. 

The Power of Text

University officials point out that text messages are just one tool in their emergency toolbox, which also includes emails, computer pop-ups, social media, voice calls and public address systems.

“When planning for emergencies, we don't put all our eggs in one basket,” said UW System spokesman David Giroux. 

But in some instances — for a student on the move, or on the job like Cardinal — a text might be the only message to connect with the target.

“The best way to respond (to an emergency) is to have the most instantaneous message delivery on a college campus, and that by far is text messaging,” said Michael Hanley, director of the Ball State University Institute for Mobile Media Research.

UWM Students Unaware of Alerts

At UWM, campus officials have tried to spread awareness of the system, said Gregory Habeck, assistant campus police chief.

The alert program is promoted to new students every spring and fall semester during various orientation programs they attend, he said.

"We have union tabling events with computers for live enrollment into the SAFE alert,” Habeck asid. “We have tabling events at the residence halls. There is also easy sign up linked to University police website and University Safety and Assurances website."

Along with advertisements in campus-circulated newspapers, such as the UWM Post, the alert system is promoted on UWM's Facebook and Twitter accounts, he added.

But many UWM students just don't know about the program.

“I had no idea we offered a text service,” said Tanner Rogers, 21, of Oak Creek. “I don’t know if it is just because I am a transfer and I commute to school, but I would prefer it over emails.”

While students and staff have to sign up for the text alerts, everyone with a UWM email address receives emergency notification emails that provide details on nearby crimes and other public safety updates.

But some students note that they aren't able to get their emails on their phones, and would prefer text alerts.

"We receive these terrifying emails of someone being robbed near campus at gunpoint,” said Rogers. “I might not even be able to read it before I get to campus or even while I am there.”

“I would feel better knowing I can just check my phone and find out if something is going on and not have to worry about not seeing an email," Rogers added.

Kaitlyn Gradecki, a junior at UWM, also was unaware of the text alert service, but believes she and other students would feel more at ease knowing they can receive the most up-to-date safety information as it is made available, in a way they will be sure to see it.

“I don’t have access to email all the time,” said Gradecki. “I am scared to be on campus at night for night classes and it scares me to think something may happen and I won’t know about it.”

Sparked by Campus Shootings

In 2007 and 2008, troubled students shot themselves after killing 37 people and wounding dozens more at Virginia Tech and Northern Illinois universities.

Just 10 percent of NIU’s students were signed up for text alerts in 2008, when a gunman shot 21 people in a lecture hall, killing five. In response to student concerns, the school currently is switching to an opt-out system. Although it’s not fully implemented, 66 percent of students are receiving the alerts.

“You just look around the country and see what happens, and anything you can do to be somewhat prepared is important,” UW-Platteville spokesman Paul Erickson. “Shootings are the big one that really made a lot of people stop and think that wow, that can happen here.” 

At UW-Parkside, the text alert system is promoted vigorously with emails and campus presentations. The school’s voluntary signup rate of 65 percent is highest among the state’s campuses using opt-in text alert systems.

From there, the rates take a dive. Coming in next is UW-La Crosse, at 43 percent, then UW-Green Bay, at 33. Three schools have participation rates in the 20s and three are in the teens.

At UW-Madison, campus Police Capt. Michael Newton said every effort is made to keep alerts to a minimum — about six per year, he estimated. 

Cardinal gives these efforts a mixed review.

“Sometimes (the alerts) get annoying,” he said. “Most of the time they’re not even close to where I am.”

But when an emergency did occur close to him, Cardinal was glad he got the message.

This project was produced in collaboration with the Investigative Journalism Education Consortium, ijec.org. Funding from the Robert R. McCormick Foundation supports the consortium and its projects. The nonprofit Wisconsin Center for Investigative Journalism (www.WisconsinWatch.org) also collaborates with Wisconsin Public Radio, Wisconsin Public Television, other news media and the UW-Madison School of Journalism and Mass Communication.

Rory Linnane is a reporter for the center; Sarah Duchow is a student journalist at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee.

Additional reporting by Amy Harwath of the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.

 All works created, published, posted or disseminated by the Center do not necessarily reflect the views or opinions of UW-Madison or any of its affiliates.