MONTCLAIR, N.J. - It was after 1 a.m. when college freshman Amanda Phillips arrived at the train station. She was nervous about walking alone in the dark to her dorm at Montclair State University.
So she activated a GPS tracking device on her school-issued cell phone that would instantly alert campus police to her whereabouts if she didn't turn it off in 20 minutes. After a five-minute walk, she safely reached her room and turned off the timer.
Had she not turned the device off, an alarm would have sounded at the campus police station, and a computer screen would have displayed a dot with her location, her photo and other personal details.
"I think this is a great idea. It makes me feel a lot safer. And it's not even that expensive," said Phillips, 18, from Delaware.
Two years ago, well before the Virginia Tech massacre last spring, Montclair State made cell phones with a GPS tracking device mandatory for all first-year students living in dorms. Now, all new full-time undergraduates -- whether they live on campus or off -- are required to buy them. About 6,000 students have them now.
Students can use the timer, or, in an emergency, activate the GPS technology to instantly alert police. "Maybe they're hiding and are hurt. Maybe they wouldn't want to talk because they're hiding behind a desk and the gunman's in the room. They'd have a better chance of being located," said campus police Sgt. Paul Giardino.
So far, not many students are using the feature. The university, which has 13,000 undergraduates, said the timers get turned on about five to 10 times a week.
Students praise the safety features, but some grumble that the phones must be bought through the school for $210 per semester, on top of tuition and fees totaling more than $7,600 a year. The school said it is not making money on the deal. It said the total cost is around $2 million per year -- almost exactly what the school collects to fund it.
