Some alert texts below are approximate reconstructions from news coverage, not confirmed verbatim transcripts. Reconstructed texts are shown in italic with a dashed border. Verified verbatim texts have a solid border and are marked accordingly.
INITIAL ALERTSMS
Approximate reconstruction·192 chars
UC Davis WarnMe: Possible explosive devices reported in Tercero Building D. Police are evacuating Tercero residence halls. Residents: leave your building NOW. Report to Tercero Dining Commons.
This text has been reconstructed from news coverage and may not reflect the exact original wording.
This was the first operational use of UC Davis's WarnMe (Aggie Alert) emergency-notification system, implemented in 2007-2008 in response to the April 2007 Virginia Tech shooting and the HEOA 2008 amendments to Clery requiring immediate-notification capability
Tercero Building D is one of seven residence-hall buildings in UC Davis's Tercero complex, housing primarily freshmen; the evacuation extended to all seven buildings out of an abundance of caution
The 160-character constraint for single-segment SMS is reflected in the abbreviated message structure; this template — system name, brief threat description, action instruction, gathering point — would become standard for SMS campus alerts in the late 2000s
UPDATEEmail
Approximate reconstruction·516 chars
[UC Davis WarnMe: Seven buildings in the Tercero Residence Hall complex (A through G) have been evacuated as a precaution following a report of possible explosive devices in Building D. Approximately 455 students are sheltering in the Tercero Dining Commons; bedding and water are being provided. Hazardous-materials teams are on scene. Residents: do not attempt to return to your room. Stay in the Dining Commons until further notice. Campus operations continue on regular schedule for the remainder of the campus.]
This text has been reconstructed from news coverage and may not reflect the exact original wording.
The decision to extend the evacuation to all seven Tercero buildings (A through G) rather than only Building D reflected the precautionary stance recommended in post-Virginia Tech emergency-management training
The 'campus operations continue on regular schedule for the remainder of the campus' language was a deliberate communications choice to distinguish localized evacuations from campus-wide closures
The Tercero Dining Commons hosted 455 students for approximately 12 hours; UC Davis Dining Services and Student Housing coordinated overnight provisions
UPDATEEmail
Approximate reconstruction·471 chars
[UC Davis WarnMe: Hazardous-materials teams have located explosive materials in the Tercero Building D room of concern. Approximately five milk-crate-sized bins of explosive powders, chemicals, and plastic and metal pipes are being safely removed. The student who lives in the room has been arrested by UC Davis police. Tercero residents continue sheltering in the Dining Commons; tentative re-entry to undamaged buildings is targeted for midday. Updates at ucdavis.edu.]
This text has been reconstructed from news coverage and may not reflect the exact original wording.
The 'five milk-crate-sized bins' figure is documented in the UC Davis official news release and contemporaneous Daily Illini coverage
The student arrested — UC Davis freshman Mark Christopher Woods, 18 — was charged with two felonies: possession of chemicals to make explosives and possession of explosive materials on school grounds
The 'midday re-entry' communication was the first time UC Davis WarnMe was used to communicate an evolving operational decision rather than an initial threat warning — an important institutional precedent for the system's use
ALL CLEARSMS
Approximate reconstruction·169 chars
UC Davis WarnMe: All-clear. Tercero residents may return to your room. Building D 3rd-floor area near the affected room remains cordoned off. Campus operations continue.
This text has been reconstructed from news coverage and may not reflect the exact original wording.
The 12-hour timeline from initial evacuation to all-clear is unusually long for a non-fire residence-hall incident; the duration reflected the time required for hazardous-materials teams to safely remove the explosive materials
The 'campus operations continue' language echoed the prior message and reinforced the institutional decision to keep the broader UC Davis campus operating normally during a localized residence-hall incident
The all-clear was the third WarnMe message in the sequence and demonstrated the system's capacity for multi-stage operational communications — a key proof point that drove other UC campuses (including UCSF in April 2009) to adopt similar systems
Context
Background
On the evening of Wednesday, March 5, 2008, the University of California, Davis — a public R1 institution with approximately 31,000 students — used its newly implemented WarnMe (Aggie Alert) emergency-notification system for the first time in a real incident. At approximately 9:00 PM PST, UC Davis police received a call from a woman who reported that there might be explosive devices in a third-floor room of Building D in the Tercero Residence Halls. Police evacuated 455 students — mostly freshmen — from seven buildings in the Tercero complex and moved them to the Tercero Dining Commons. Earlier that evening, at about 6:00 PM PST, an unrelated-seeming small explosion had occurred on a third-floor balcony of Building D, but residents did not report it to officials at the time. By the morning of March 6, 2008, hazardous-materials teams had safely removed five milk-crate-sized bins of explosive powders, chemicals, and plastic and metal pipes from the room. The student who lived there — UC Davis freshman Mark Christopher Woods, 18 — was arrested on two felony charges. Students returned to their rooms at midday on March 6, 2008 — approximately 12 hours after the evacuation. The UC Davis case is significant for the archive because (1) it documents the first operational use of WarnMe, a system implemented in 2007-2008 in direct response to the April 2007 Virginia Tech shooting and the HEOA 2008 amendments to Clery, (2) the multi-stage SMS-and-email communications sequence (initial warning, status update, re-entry, all-clear) became a template for subsequent UC-system campus alerts, and (3) UC Davis's successful early use of WarnMe drove other UC campuses — notably UCSF in April 2009 — to adopt similar systems built on the same WARN platform.
Analysis
Key Findings
01March 5, 2008 was the first operational use of UC Davis's WarnMe (Aggie Alert) emergency-notification system, implemented in 2007-2008 in response to the April 2007 Virginia Tech shooting and the HEOA 2008 amendments to Clery
02455 students — mostly freshmen — were evacuated from seven Tercero residence-hall buildings (A through G) and sheltered overnight in the Tercero Dining Commons; the evacuation lasted approximately 12 hours from 9:00 PM PST March 5 to midday March 6, 2008
03Hazardous-materials teams removed five milk-crate-sized bins of explosive powders, chemicals, and plastic and metal pipes from Tercero Building D; the student who lived in the room, UC Davis freshman Mark Christopher Woods (18), was arrested on two felony charges
04The multi-stage WarnMe communications sequence (initial SMS warning, status email, operational-decision email, all-clear SMS) became a template for subsequent UC-system campus alerts and drove other UC campuses (notably UCSF in April 2009) to adopt similar systems
05UC Davis's deliberate 'campus operations continue on regular schedule for the remainder of the campus' communications choice during a localized residence-hall incident became a benchmark for differentiating localized evacuations from campus-wide closures in post-HEOA university emergency management
Outcome
455 students — mostly freshmen — evacuated from seven Tercero residence-hall buildings on the evening of March 5, 2008 and housed overnight in the Tercero dining hall. Five milk-crate-sized bins of explosive powders, chemicals, and pipes removed from the dorm room by March 6, 2008. Student arrested on two felony charges (possession of chemicals to make explosives and possession of explosive materials on school grounds). Students returned to their rooms at midday on March 6, 2008 — approximately 12 hours after the evacuation. No injuries. Campus operations continued on regular schedule.