Tuesday, July 21, 2026

Heads up: W&M will be testing its emergency siren

William & Mary students expressed upset after two speakers came to the college and expressed or represented controversial viewpoints. (WYDaily/Courtesy W&M News)
(WYDaily/Courtesy W&M News)

William & Mary will test its emergency notification system Wednesday.

The drill will be at 12:15 p.m. It will test the campus-wide siren and a backup activation method as well as W&M’s mass notification messaging system, according to the university.

During the test of the backup system – those nearby may hear as many as three additional short blasts (two or three seconds each) from the siren following the initial two-minute test tone.

The 120-decibel siren system is stationed above the Integrated Science Center, William & Mary Law School on South Henry Street and the School of Education building off Monticello Avenue, according to a news release from the university.

In the event of a real emergency, people in the community who hear the siren may check for information and instructions here.

You can also follow emergency news through the William & Mary News Facebook and Twitter pages as well as the free W&M mobile app.

John Mangalonzo
John Mangalonzohttps://wydaily.com
John Mangalonzo ([email protected]) is the managing editor of Local Voice Media’s Virginia papers – WYDaily (Williamsburg), Southside Daily (Virginia Beach) and HNNDaily (Hampton-Newport News). Before coming to Local Voice, John was the senior content editor of The Bellingham Herald, a McClatchy newspaper in Washington state. Previously, he served as city editor/content strategist for USA Today Network newsrooms in St. George and Cedar City, Utah. John started his professional journalism career shortly after graduating from Lyceum of The Philippines University in 1990. As a rookie reporter for a national newspaper in Manila that year, John was assigned to cover four of the most dangerous cities in Metro Manila. Later that year, John was transferred to cover the Philippine National Police and Armed Forces of the Philippines. He spent the latter part of 1990 to early 1992 embedded with troopers in the southern Philippines as they fought with communist rebels and Muslim extremists. His U.S. journalism career includes reporting and editing stints for newspapers and other media outlets in New York City, California, Texas, Iowa, Utah, Colorado and Washington state.

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