Less than one-third of the student body has registered for the text message emergency alert system established at start of the school year.
The Johns Hopkins Emergency Alert (JHEA) system is one of many text message alert systems instituted on campuses across the country following the shooting at Virginia Tech last April.
"The best case scenario that we want to work towards is to get everyone signed up; however, in the real world 100 percent is not realistic," said Edmund Skrodzki, executive director of Safety and Security.
Security sent e-mail notifications to inform students, faculty, staff and parents of the system.
Since then, security has been working closely with the deans, administrators and the office of Communications and Public Affairs to raise awareness of the system, Skrodzki said.
"Presently, we're working with the Student Council leadership to encourage greater student participation, and distributing fliers at our bi-monthly Campus Security meet-and-greet sessions," Skrodzki said.
Despite efforts to raise awareness on the program, students remain unaware of how to register.
"The difficulty the deans are having is identifying the best way to get information to students," said Susan Boswell, dean of students.
"It's definitely worth signing up for but I just don't know how to," Nathan Kirkpatrick, a freshman major in biophysics, said.
"If we were all e-mailed the link again, I'd definitely sign up."
Molly Ronan, a sophomore classics major, echoed the sentiment.
"I don't know how to sign up," she said.
"I don't know if I have enough motivation to search the Web site and find where to sign up."
"Many students have said they do not know about it," Boswell said.
"No one expressed a particular concern about signing up once they were aware of it."
Mary Ellen Pozo, a senior biomolecular engineering major, signed up after the initial e-mail notification.
"I thought that it was a nice integration of security into student life," she said.
"I thought, 'Why not?'" said Ravy Vajravlu, a senior biomolecular engineering major.
"I signed up because if something were to happen, it would be important to know if there was a dangerous situation."
University of Maryland, Baltimore, which uses a similar system, has also suffered low registration rates.
Despite a combined student body of over 5,000, UMB has a little over 1000 students registered with the program, according Robert Rowan, assistant vice president for facilities management and head of the UMB's Emergency Management Team.
"We suspect [students do not sign up] because they already feel safe and think registration is unnecessary," he said.
"Also, they do not want any more spam going to their phones."
UMB has taken steps to promote awareness, including coordinating with their student council and addressing it at orientation.
"Unless there is a major incident, we suspect registration might go as high as 20 percent but not much higher," Rowan said.
"My cousin is a freshman at a school in New York where they had a gun incident," Ned McCague, a senior English major who signed up with the program, said.
"That was definitely a contributing factor to my registration."
Signing up for the system is voluntary. Skrodzki said the University cannot require students who own cell phones to pay the cost that their cellular service providers charge to receive a text message, and therefore cannot make registration mandatory.
"We also cannot require students to own cell phones," he said.
"We discussed making [signing up] mandatory but have not agreed on an enforcement method," Boswell said.
Rowan said UMB also elected to make the system voluntary because of the potential cost of receiving text messages, and because a number of students do not have access to text capable phones.
"The cost of text messages isn't a big deal," Kirkpatrick said.
"Everyone I know my age is on a text messaging plan."
"I don't know if I get charged," Vajravlu said. "I'm not really worried about that."
To him, the only reasons students would not register with the system are because they are unaware or do not feel like making the effort.
"I find hard to believe that people would be opposed to it," he said. "It can't be a question of money. I know many students who text message."
The JHEA system allows Safety and Security to rapidly transmit a short text message to wireless telephone devices in the event of a major emergency.
This message will alert students to the existence of the emergency, provide them with brief information they need to know immediately and direct them to other University resources for more information and instructions.
There are currently 1,709 students who have registered, according to Skrodzki.
