UI putting together plans to deal with different emergencies - Christine Des Garennes, the News-Gazette

Kip Mecum is in the business of planning for events – events he hopes never happen. If a tornado hit the University of Illinois campus, if a student came down with a case of avian flu, how would the UI respond? Unlike some businesses, the university, with its tens of thousands of students, faculty and staff, not to mention research animals, just can't shut down in the event of an emergency, said Mecum, the UI's director of emergency planning.