To expand UF's emergency-notification plan, students must submit emergency contact information to UF before they register for spring classes.
In case of a campuswide emergency, UF administrators will warn students with a mass text message, according to an e-mail sent to all UF students from Patricia Telles-Irvin, UF's vice president for student affairs.
UF planned to update its emergency plan after the Virginia Tech shooting last year.
The university's current emergency-notification plan includes e-mail, posts on the UF Web site and news releases.
Beginning Oct. 22, students must submit addresses, cell phone numbers, work numbers, home numbers and the numbers of designated emergency contacts.
Emergency contacts are usually relatives, the e-mail stated.
Students do not have to wait until their designated registration times to input the updated information.
The emergency contacts UF gathers will not be used outside UF or the emergency text-messaging service it has contracted, the e-mail stated.
It is also exempt from public disclosure under Florida's open records law.
"UF is just being proactive," said Katy Davis, a public relations freshman. "I don't really think it's intrusive."
Davis said she realized UF didn't have all her necessary emergency contact information when she came down with a kidney infection earlier this month.
The Student Health Care Center sent her to the emergency room but ran into problems when doctors couldn't get in touch with her parents.
Tracking down her insurance information took an hour and a half longer than it should have, she said.
She said the whole situation would have been much easier if UF had a phone number for an emergency contact.
"I'm just happy they're getting it now," Davis added.
Kelsey Kempler, a UF sophomore, said releasing her emergency contact information to UF puts her at ease, especially after recent school shootings.
Kempler said she has no objection to giving UF the tools to protect her.
She said she thinks most students would agree with that viewpoint.
"I thought they already had the info," she said. "But I'm happy. It's for our safety."
