The text message had some misplaced question marks in it, but the point was clear: There had been a stabbing at University Memorial Center at 9:43 a.m. The suspect was in custody, and the UMC terrace and Euclid Avenue were closed.

Officials on the University of Colorado campus tested a new student emergency notification system Monday as a man wielding a knife stabbed a freshman and himself before police subdued him.

The text message and e-mail alert went out at 10:21 a.m. - 38 minutes after the stabbing was reported.

"I don't know if it's the best we can do," CU spokesman Bronson Hilliard said.

The main problem is that only about 500 students have signed up for the service.

Students, faculty and staff with a colorado.edu e-mail address can sign up online for the text messaging service through CUConnect at cuconnect.colorado.edu or at colorado.edu/alerts.