Grambling Fraternity Urges Students to 'Get In'

A rash of violence on college campuses across the country leaves many students concerned about their safety. Now universities are doing something about it, but many students arent made aware of the safety measures taken on their behalf. One major complaint from students is they arent aware of the violence on their campuses when it happens, so all of the universities in our area have launched an alert system. But students havent been signing up, so a group of Grambling students is getting involved to let their peers know about the safety precautions. Shalena Goode is a freshman at Grambling State University. She had never heard of the FirstCall alert system until we told her about it. The system notifies students of dangers on campus by sending a text message to their cell phone, but students must register for the service. Goode didnt hesitate to sign up. "There are a lot of rumors that go around. It would be nice to know the difference between the rumors and whats actually going on," said Goode. But why arent other students so quick to sign up so they can also be in the know? Ralph Wilson, Media Relations Director at Grambling says, "I think they really want the service. I just think that its new and its not something theyre in a hurry to do." Members of Omega Psi Phi Fraternity are getting the word out about the service and encouraging students like Shalena to sign up for the services because they realize how important it will be in case of an emergency. The members are passing out fliers and have come up with other interesting ways of spreading the word and telling students to "get in". Michael McGlothan, the fraternity president says, “Well text five people from our phone or however many people encouraging them to text theyre friends in their phones. Its like our national text out day." Shalena says now that the fraternity is getting involved more students will begin to follow their lead. "Its showing them hey I’m just the same as you and I’m going to do something to not only help me but help you in the future," she says. Wilson says as more students register for summer or spring classes, they will see a page on the schools website prompting them to sign up for first call. He says its not mandatory, only a logical thing to do. (Copyright 2008, NBC 10/Fox 14 News, Written by Casey Ferrand)