NMSU
ARP 16.11 — Emergency Notification System (AggieAlert) and Clery Act Compliance
New Mexico State University, a land-grant R1 Hispanic-Serving Institution in Las Cruces, sends campus alerts through AggieAlert, its Omnilert-powered phone/text/email/app emergency-notification system, governed by ARP 16.11 (Emergency Notification System) and ARP 16.12 (Clery Act Compliance), with the NMSU Chief of Police as the final decision authority on whether to issue an Emergency Notification or Timely Warning.
Read the official policyInstitution
New Mexico State University
Public R1 · NM
~22,711 studentsAggieAlert (Aggie Alert)
In the policy’s own words
What the policy says
AggieAlert activation framingverbatim
AggieAlert notifications are sent to the University community when there is an immediate threat or concern for the health or safety of the campus community. In addition, the University may send precautionary AggieAlert notifications for emergency situations occurring in or affecting nearby areas.
- — Sets AggieAlert's threshold at an immediate threat or concern for campus health/safety and authorizes precautionary alerts for nearby-area emergencies. Identical wording surfaced across two-plus independent retrievals of emergency.nmsu.edu.
Activation criteria (ARP 16.11)verbatim
An emergency notification of students, staff, and faculty may be initiated when the following criteria are met: There is a major incident or threat affecting the safety of the NMSU community; the emergency notification can help alleviate threats to others or shall otherwise improve public safety; and the emergency notification will not adversely impact public safety.
- — Codifies the three-prong activation test (major incident/threat; alleviates threats or improves public safety; will not adversely impact public safety). The three-prong criteria surfaced across three independent retrievals of ARP 16.11.
Final decision authority (Chief of Police)verbatim
The final decision on whether to issue one of the above notices, and the information contained therein, rests with the NMSU Chief of Police.
- — Vests final authority over both Emergency Notifications and Timely Warnings in the NMSU Chief of Police. The Chief-of-Police-as-final-authority statement surfaced across two-plus independent retrievals.
Timely Warning definition (ARP 16.12)verbatim
A timely warning is a warning given, triggered by a Clery Crime reported (to a Campus Security Authority or to law enforcement) to have occurred within the campus' Clery Geography, which NMSU considers to represent a serious or ongoing threat to students or employees.
- — Defines the Clery timely-warning function around a 'serious or ongoing threat' from a Clery Crime in Clery Geography. Surfaced across two-plus independent retrievals; NMSU uses the literal phrase 'timely warning.'
Channels / delivery methodsverbatim
In the event of an emergency, the Emergency Notification System will provide messages via phone, text and email.
- — Confirms the core AggieAlert channel trio — voice phone call, SMS/text, and email — supplemented by Omnilert mobile-app push. Surfaced across two-plus independent retrievals.
Clery push-vs-pull framingverbatim
The Clery Act requires a "push" notification (affirmative message delivery by the institution), rather than a "pull" notification (posting it somewhere that people can go to find the information).
- — Articulates why AggieAlert pushes to phones/inboxes rather than relying on a posted page — the Clery 'push not pull' principle. Surfaced across two-plus independent retrievals.
At a glance
How this policy works
- When it activates
- Per ARP 16.11, an emergency notification 'may be initiated when the following criteria are met: There is a major incident or threat affecting the safety of the NMSU community; the emergency notification can help alleviate threats to others or shall otherwise improve public safety; and the emergency notification will not adversely impact public safety.' AggieAlert is sent 'when there is an immediate threat or concern for the health or safety of the campus community,' with precautionary alerts for nearby-area emergencies.
- Who decides
- The NMSU Police Department is the intake point; the final decision on whether to issue an Emergency Notification or Timely Warning 'rests with the NMSU Chief of Police.' When an Incident Commander is established (NMSU Police and/or NMSU Fire per ARP 16.10), the Incident Commander or Chief of Police (or designee) determines that an emergency is 'confirmed' and directs the content of the notification.
- Timeliness standard
- NMSU's ASR states the Incident Commander 'will, without delay and taking into account the safety of the community, determine the content of an Emergency Notification and have it sent,' unless doing so would compromise efforts to assist victims or mitigate the emergency — mirroring the federal Clery 34 CFR 668.46 'without delay' standard. The full single-sentence construction was single-source in this review and is flagged accordingly.
- Emergency notification vs. timely warning
- NMSU explicitly uses both 'Emergency Notification' and 'Timely Warning.' An Emergency Notification covers events that 'imminently threaten the health or safety of students and employees, including significant emergencies and dangerous situations'; a Timely Warning covers a 'Clery Crime … within the campus' Clery Geography … [representing] a serious or ongoing threat.' The policy distinguishes a Clery 'push' notification from a 'pull' notification.
- Testing cadence
- NMSU tests the Notification System and announces routine tests beforehand (e.g., a documented noon test on Wednesday, Feb. 7, delivered 'via the notification method you selected when you registered'). A specific 'each semester' cadence appeared only once and is not asserted as verbatim; NMSU also runs unannounced fire-evacuation drills and at least one annual emergency exercise.
- Scope & limits
- AggieAlert reach depends on subscribers keeping current contact information in the Omnilert portal (nmsu.omnilert.net / etm.nmsu.edu); messages go via phone, text, email, and app push. Social media and digital signage extend reach. Outdoor sirens or public-address were not tied to AggieAlert by any NMSU source and are not claimed.
ChannelsSmsEmailPhone CallPush NotificationTwitter XFacebookDigital Signage
Analysis
Reading the policy
New Mexico State University (NMSU) is New Mexico's original land-grant institution, a federally designated Hispanic-Serving Institution, and — as of the 2025 Carnegie classifications — a Carnegie R1 research university, enrolling roughly 22,711 students across its Las Cruces main campus and branch campuses. Its emergency-notification system is branded AggieAlert (sometimes styled 'Aggie Alert'), provided through a partnership with the vendor Omnilert LLC (the subscriber portal lives at nmsu.omnilert.net) — not Rave or Everbridge. NMSU frames AggieAlert's public-facing purpose plainly: 'AggieAlert notifications are sent to the University community when there is an immediate threat or concern for the health or safety of the campus community. In addition, the University may send precautionary AggieAlert notifications for emergency situations occurring in or affecting nearby areas.'
The activation threshold is codified in ARP 16.11, Emergency Notification System, which provides that an emergency notification 'may be initiated when the following criteria are met: There is a major incident or threat affecting the safety of the NMSU community · The emergency notification can help alleviate threats to others or shall otherwise improve public safety · [and] the emergency notification will not adversely impact public safety.' NMSU's definitional language ties the function to the Clery standard — an Emergency Notification is 'a warning given, triggered by any event currently occurring or that imminently threatens the health or safety of students and employees, including significant emergencies and dangerous situations.'
Decision authority is centralized in law enforcement and incident command. NMSU's Annual Security Reports and ARP make the NMSU Police Department the intake point ('Anyone who thinks an emergency notification or timely warning is needed should immediately contact the NMSU Police Department') and place final authority with the Chief of Police: 'The final decision on whether to issue one of the above notices, and the information contained therein, rests with the NMSU Chief of Police.' During an active response, an Incident Commander is established (NMSU Police and/or NMSU Fire, per ARP 16.10) who, the ASR states, 'will, without delay and taking into account the safety of the community, determine the content of an Emergency Notification and have it sent' unless doing so would compromise efforts to assist victims or mitigate the emergency — language that tracks the federal Clery 'without delay' standard at 34 CFR 668.46.
NMSU keeps the two Clery tracks explicit in ARP 16.12, Clery Act Compliance, and uses the literal phrase 'Timely Warning': a Timely Warning is 'a warning given, triggered by a Clery Crime reported … to have occurred within the campus' Clery Geography, which NMSU considers to represent a serious or ongoing threat to students or employees,' and the policy explicitly distinguishes a Clery 'push' notification (affirmative delivery by the institution) from a 'pull' notification. AggieAlert delivers 'messages via phone, text and email' plus push via the Omnilert mobile app; NMSU also operates social media and digital signage, though no source tied outdoor sirens or PA to AggieAlert, so those are not claimed. Two honesty caveats: every nmsu.edu host (emergency.nmsu.edu, arp.nmsu.edu) and the ASR PDFs returned HTTP 403 to automated fetching, so all excerpts were captured from search-index reproductions of NMSU's own ARP/ASR/AggieAlert pages and corroborated across multiple independent queries; and the full single-sentence 'Incident Commander … without delay' construction and the exact published test cadence ('each semester') each appeared only once and are therefore flagged isVerbatimConfirmed:false here, while the criteria, definitions, decision authority, Clery framing, and channels surfaced identically across two-or-more retrievals.
Takeaways
Key findings
NMSU's emergency-notification system is AggieAlert, powered by vendor Omnilert (portal nmsu.omnilert.net), delivering phone, text, email, and app-push alerts — not Rave or Everbridge.
Activation is governed by ARP 16.11's three-prong test (major incident/threat; alleviates threats or improves public safety; will not adversely impact public safety), with AggieAlert sent for immediate threats to campus health/safety plus precautionary nearby-area alerts.
Final authority to issue an Emergency Notification or Timely Warning rests with the NMSU Chief of Police; the NMSU Police Department is the intake point, and an Incident Commander directs content during active response.
NMSU uses both Clery terms explicitly — Emergency Notification and Timely Warning — and articulates the Clery 'push, not pull' principle in ARP 16.12.
NMSU is a public R1 (2025 Carnegie), land-grant, Hispanic-Serving Institution (~22,711 students). All excerpts were corroborated across multiple search retrievals because .edu hosts and ASR PDFs blocked automated fetching; the full single-sentence 'Incident Commander … without delay' construction and the exact 'each semester' test cadence were single-source and are flagged not verbatim-confirmed.
Policy, meet practice
When this system actually fired
2 documented times NMSU’s alert system was used, from the case archive.
Provenance
Sources
- Official
- Official
- Official
- Official
- Clery ASR
- Official
- Official
Tags
policyemergency-notificationtimely-warningclery-actaggie-alertomnilerthsiland-grantpublic-r1new-mexico
Added 2026-06-21Updated 2026-06-21Via ingestion