Mercer cell phones could protect students

Mercer University officials say a plan to provide students with cell phones is on the fast track after the shootings at Virginia Tech.

Mercer will start providing the phones to its twenty-three hundred undergraduate students on its Macon campus this fall.

The original plan called for the phones to be provided for incoming freshman only. However, university officials will meet this week to review their safety plan.

It's expected that they will vote to provide all Mercer undergraduate students with telephones.

The phones will allow students to make and receive unlimited text messages, and enable campus police to locate students in an emergency via Global Positioning System capabilities.

Mercer officials say the phones will be provided free to students unless they want to upgrade their service. Rave Wireless will provide the telephones. The company says recent events have caused many colleges and universities to re-evaluate their emergency preparedness.