The bizarre message left some frightened, and others confused.

"It was pretty scary at first," one freshman, Brendan Negron said in the article. "My first reaction was that maybe it was some kind of threat."

For the most part though, the alert systems seem helpful, especially in critical situations.

On Thursday, students at Virginia Tech were that a homicide had occurred on campus. Students were sent a text message asking them to stay indoors.

Anthony Walker, the chief of police at Norfolk State University is a proponent of the alert systems.