McNeese’s first lockdown drill did what it was supposed to do, administrators said, although students were mixed in their reactions.

At about 9:20 a.m. Tuesday, students and faculty received phone calls, text messages and emails instructing them to follow lockdown procedures until the all-clear was issued. It was only after the all-clear that emails and text messages went out informing everyone that the lockdown had been a drill. 

The drill was a coordinated effort between McNeese administration, the McNeese Police Department, as well as other law enforcement agencies.  

McNeese Police Chief William Scheufens said he was pleased with the results. 

“I believe the drill did exactly what we needed it to do,” Scheufens said. “First, it placed the thought of how an individual would respond in the event of an actual event occurring. Second, it helped us identify areas that we can strive to do better.” 

The uncertainty caused confusion and concern among some students. Junior nursing major Mia Cruickshank said the lack of clarification was a problem. 

“It was a little freaky because they didn’t say it was a drill at first,” Cruickshank said. “And what alarmed me the most was they never told us what the lockdown procedure was, they just told us to follow it. It was such a vague message.” 

Freshman pre-veterinary major Andi Wilson agreed and said the lack of information extended beyond students. 

“Lots of professors didn’t even know what was going on,” Wilson said. 

Other students described their experience with Tuesday’s drill differently. Junior theater major Ryan Bergeron said he thought the drill went well but could use some adjustments. 

“The test was a success for the theater department, but it brought slight panic due to not saying it was a test,” Bergeron said. 

McNeese’s Interim President Dr. Kedrick Nicholas also said the drill was successful.  

“The drill was successful because it met the objective we set,” Nicholas said. “That is to train the mentality of our campus to understand how to respond in a crisis situation that requires a lockdown. While there were some issues with the clarity of the text messaging and disruptions to campus operations not anticipating the drill, those circumstances were necessary for us to understand how we need to refine our practices and improve preparedness.” 

In today’s weekly update email to faculty and staff, Nicholas thanked everyone for their cooperation and said the exercise would not be the last campus-wide drill. 

Both Scheufens and Nicholas said the university’s Incident Management Team will meet to debrief and share observation notes and feedback to determine what went well and what adjustments may be needed for future drills.