VALLEY CITY - Officials say a majority of North Dakota college students are participating in a new emergency notification system even though they're required to sign up rather than sign out.

The NotiFind system is intended to allow school officials to notify students, faculty and staff members of emergencies, using e-mail, text-messages and phone calls. The system was activated statewide earlier this month.

More than 28,000 students have accessed online sign-up forms for the system, and about 54 percent have chosen to participate, said Laura Glatt, the university system's vice chancellor for administrative affairs.

"I think that's phenomenal," Glatt said Thursday at the state Board of Higher Education meeting.

When the board first approved the plan, it was believed that students would be automatically entered into the system and then have the option to be taken off the list. Instead, they are being asked to voluntarily enter or verify their contact information.

"You have to take action to get in, not action to get out," Glatt said.

The board voted Thursday to change wording in its policy on the system to comply with the requirement that students need to opt in if they want to participate. The program is mandatory for university employees.

"Participation is not required for students. It is encouraged," board attorney Pat Seaworth said.

Other states are seeing a participation rate in NotiFind of between 20 percent and 30 percent, said David Klein, the Valley City State safety officer who's managing the statewide project.

"The more people you have participating, the better," Klein said. "The ones who don't sign up are running the risk of missing some vitally important information."

State officials decided to start using the system after school shootings at Virginia Tech and Northern Illinois. The system also could be used to notify students during blizzards or other weather emergencies.

Richie Smith, the board president, credited Klein and others involved in the project for quickly getting the system in place. The board approved the plan last April.

"By all accounts, it has been a success," Smith said.