YOUNGSTOWN, Ohio - Colleges and universities all use a text alert system to notify students and staff of emergency situations like the one that occurred Monday at Ohio State University.

At YSU it's called the Penguin Alert system. It's a quick, straight to the point, message sent out to warn of a possible danger.

When Ohio State students and staff got the emergency text it said to "Run Hide Fight."

Those words are similar to the ALICE program which is what most schools and universities follow these days.

The program teaches people to try to first, escape from an attacker.

YSU interim police chief Shawn Varso said, "We would want the students, faculty and staff,  if they were ever in a situation like that and if they are able to, to evacuate the scene as soon as possible. If they are not able to get out of the area, you're next best option is to hide, shelter in place, lock yourself in an area where the person can't get to you as easily."

Your very last option is to fight. 

Kent State Trumbull security officer Doreen Mortaf said, "When you counter, when you're in a situation, you want to be able to pick up anything you have available to utilize against the attacker. You want to distract to escape, or you may be in a position to actually take down the shooter."

"Even distract them long enough where you can run from the situation. It's better to do that rather than just present yourself as a target and leave your survival up to the shooter," Varso said.

Some students at Ohio State say they wanted more information in text form, but those emergency texts are like tweets; you only have a certain number of characters you can use so you have to keep the information short.