MADISON, Wis. -- University of Wisconsin officials said on Thursday that the school won't deliver settlement letters to students it received from a recording industry group.

University officials received 16 letters from the Recording Industry Association of America, a music industry lobby group, on Thursday morning. The letters target 16 students suspected of downloading or sharing music illegally, WISC-TV reported.

The settlement letters ask alleged violators to pay a minimum $3,000 for downloading music or face much larger fines in a lawsuit.

A UW spokesman said that the school has decided it will not comply with the RIAA's desire for the letters to be forwarded to the students.

On campus, students said that they're aware of the issue but are still skeptical anything major will happen.

"A bunch of my friends, after receiving the e-mail, started to delete Limewire and stuff off their computer," said Hannah Karns, a UW-Madison freshman. "They made sure they weren't sharing their files. They got kind of scared by it."

Carl Jaeger, a UW-Madison freshman, said that he thinks it will still take a lot to get most students to stop downloading or sharing music illegally.

"I don't think people are going to stop doing it until it hits them personally or someone close to them," he said. "So, hearing about other people getting in trouble on campus is not going to be enough."

A UW spokesman said that he got an e-mail from the IT division at Ohio State University that said the Ohio State officials had heard about the UW's stand and that their university will also not forward the settlement letters to their students, WISC-TV reported.

Earlier this week, the RIAA sent a letter to UW System President Kevin Reilly and Madison Chancellor John Wiley warning them that the group was targeting 68 people on system campuses for alleged copyright infringement.

RIAA announced last month that it would send settlement letters to hundreds of college students around the country suspected of illegally sharing music online. The letters are part of a move to stamp out what the association says is rampant music piracy on campuses.

The association only has the alleged violators' Internet addresses. It needs university cooperation to get their actual names and addresses before moving ahead with prosecution.

Eau Claire Students Also Targeted

Meanwhile, 23 UW-Eau Claire students are also facing big fines after being accused of downloading music illegally.

The RIAA told campus administrators this week that they intend to sue the students unless the students agree to settle their cases.

In contrast to UW-Madison officials' stance, UW-Eau Claire administrators are cooperating with the association, providing names to match the association's numbers from a music sharing site.