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Simulated shots will be fired; sirens will sound. Emergency announcements (with the appropriate disclaimer) will be made via the Web, email and text messaging.

Even a helicopter will be circling overhead as rescue personnel from all over east central Illinois converge on the campus of Eastern Illinois University.

On Tuesday, June 12, the campus will become the site of the Illinois Emergency Management Agency’s 2012 State Level Exercise. This will be the first time an exercise of this magnitude has taken place on the EIU campus.

Details of the training exercise are being kept confidential so as not “to give the secret away” to exercise participants. However, notice of the exercise is being provided to prevent panic among the public – both on and off campus – and to give advance warning about certain road, parking lot and campus closures during the duration of the exercise.

In addition, William Weber, vice president for business affairs, has emphasized that all activities associated with the exercise will be treated as a real emergency, meaning, in part, that observation by non-participants will be discouraged.

For more on this story, including some campus advisories, please see here.