Registration for the campus-wide emergency text-messaging system “WiscAlert-Text” began May 1 and is now available to all students through registration on the MyUW Portal.

University shootings at Virginia Tech and Northern Illinois University and the homicide of UW-Madison student Brittany Zimmermann in April prompted university officials to create the new method of communicating to students across campus.

“WiscAlert-Text” is the most recent addition to UW-Madison’s crisis communication plan and will be used to alert students when text messaging proves to be more efficient than other alert systems.

“The police department would evaluate the situation and determine whether we need to make the community aware of the situation through text, e-mail, voicemail, reverse 911, the WiscAlert website or WiscAlert on Facebook,” Lt. Michael Newton of the University of Wisconsin Police Department said.

The new alert system will not replace other forms, but work with them to improve the flow of communication between UW-Madison police, students, staff and faculty.

“All of the systems work in conjunction with one another. Different situations bring up different modes of communication,” Newton said.

Thousands of students have already registered and UWPD strongly encourages anyone with the ability to register for this alert system to do so.

WiscAlert-Text does not charge registered users, but cell-phone companies will apply normal text charges.

WiscAlerts, which did not include text messages at the time, were used in three separate incidents during the 2007-’08 academic year. It is unknown if the new system will prove to be the most efficient in times of crisis.

“If all 90,000 eligible people register for this system, it will take a while to send the messages through the system,” Newton said.

WiscAlert coordinators will be using new-student orientation to promote the text service.

“One of the main things we are looking forward to is SOAR and getting incoming freshmen to sign up,” John Lucas, a University Communications spokesperson, said.

UWPD hopes to attain the majority of registers by the fall semester.