PRESS RELEASE

McNeese State University to Close
Lake Charles, La. (August 30, 2008) - The McNeese State University campus will be closed at 6 p.m. Sunday and will remain closed to all non-essential, emergency personnel until an all clear is given. "Streets to the campus are barricaded and university police are patrolling the campus during the closure," Candace Townsend, McNeese director of public information and communications, said.

No shelters will be available on the McNeese campus. "Students and employees with limited transportation should report to the McNeese Police building at 8 a.m. Sunday to participate in the public evacuation," Townsend said. Calcasieu Parish will provide buses to public shelters outside the danger zone. A mandatory evacuation of the residence halls began late Saturday morning, Townsend said.

"We have been watching this storm very closely since Tuesday and our emergency team has met numerous times to discuss our preparation and plans," Dr. Robert Hebert, McNeese president, said. "This has the potential to be a very serious storm and we feel it is necessary to completely close the campus and ask employees and students to follow parish evacuation orders."

Computing technology services and several other essential personnel will relocate to Louisiana Tech and resume operations there. "On Monday, McNeese employees and students should expect e-mail, Blackboard and Banner to be offline for six or more hours. The McNeese Web page will not be affected and updates will be posted there as they are available," Townsend said.

During the mandatory campus closure, only emergency personnel, including
university police, will remain on campus. The status of the campus will be
re-evaluated after Hurricane Gustav passes and the area is deemed safe. "We plan to reopen as soon as possible and resume all normal operations," Hebert said.

Townsend said that the university will be closed at least through Wednesday and employees and students will be notified of re-opening information through e-mail, the Web page and local media.

Further updates will be posted at www.mcneese.edu.