diff --git a/app/models/alert.rb b/app/models/alert.rb
index 412a7a3..d63c031 100644
--- a/app/models/alert.rb
+++ b/app/models/alert.rb
@@ -1,5 +1,6 @@
 class Alert < ActiveRecord::Base
-  attr_accessible :alerted, :course, :department, :user_id, :semester
+  attr_accessible :alerted, :course, :department, :semester
+  attr_protected :user_id
 
   validates :department,  :presence     => true,
                           :length       => {