Students and faculty have eagerly adopted a new text messaging alert program at the University of Calgary, according to a student spokesperson.

About 1,800 students and 450 faculty and staff have signed up to the voluntary program to receive text messaging alerts on their cellphones in the event of emergency situations.

Julie Bogle, president of the University of Calgary's Students' Union, estimated that around three-quarters of the people that walk through campus security have signed up for the program since it was introduced on September 4.

"It's a great result and we hope that the numbers continue to grow," Bogle told CTV's Canada AM.

Students can sign up for the system online or in person at the university's campus security office.

Campus community members will be meeting in October to test the system and to review when it would be activated.

"Right now, it's things that would be life-threatening situations or a severe weather storm; things like that, that have very serious emergency implementations," Bogle said.

Students can call a number 24 hours a day and seven days a week to be walked home or campus officials in an existing campus security program.

Issues of campus security have been heightened recently at Canadian universities because of the anniversary of shootings at Dawson College in Montreal.

There have also been sexual attacks on female students at Carleton University and York University in the last few weeks.