Text Messaging Signups Surge at CU Boulder
A new text messaging service set up by the University of Colorado at Boulder saw an enormous spike in enrollment following a stabbing on campus, Monday, Aug. 27. About 30 minutes after the incident, staff used the system to alert students. This service was launched as recently as Aug. 23 of this year.
From the inception of the program, CU staff have urged students to sign up. Since the violence last Monday, literally thousands of them have taken this advice and joined. The text messaging system is a direct result of the recent shootings on the Virginia Tech campus. A CU-Boulder task force set up after the shootings decided the program should be added to their existing communications systems. This specific technology is designed for getting information to large numbers of students quickly. It's also easy to join, since students simply submit their cellular phone numbers to the campus database. Colorado State University (Fort Collins, CO) will be soon to follow suit and launch a system of their own aimed at increasing campus safety.
University administrators across the United States are watching closely as this technology evolves. Watch for more systems to be implemented across America in the coming months.
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Turner Berg is the creator of Higher Education Today (www.highereducationtoday.blogspot.com), a blog dedicated to issues in higher ed. Check out his blog to learn more about the author, and his ongoing research. He can also be contacted at [email protected].