UNM isn't taking any chances in the event of an emergency.
The University will respond to a mock crisis Thursday morning by dispatching UNM Police and contacting students, staff and faculty via text message and e-mail.
UNMPD Lt. Pat Davis said it will be the first time the University has held a campuswide emergency-response drill.
Davis said it is important to test how effectively the University responds to a crisis in light of shootings on campuses across the country.
"There is no more pressing issue for university communities right now than their responses to situations like Virginia Tech and NIU," he said. "We've done small-scale drills, and we've practiced parts of our emergency response system in a limited capacity. But we've never involved all 40,000 members of the campus community."
He said students, faculty and staff that signed up for TextMe UNM will be contacted via text message and told to stay put, evacuate or find shelter, depending on their location.
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The drill will help the department make sure emergency-response systems work as well as possible in the event of a real crisis, Davis said.
He declined to describe the scenario for the drill. He said giving details would make the exercise less effective.
"We don't want people to prepare," Davis said. "We want it to be as realistic as possible. It needs to resemble a real emergency, where people won't know what to expect."
