Western New Mexico University is a public university located in Silver City, in the U.S. state of New Mexico. It has served the people of the state and its surrounding areas as a comprehensive, regional, rural, public coeducational university since 1893 and caters to a student body diverse in age, culture, language and ethnic background.

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The WNMU campus is a hybrid of registered historic buildings and modern facilities with LEED certifications. The 80-acre campus includes over 40 buildings with four residence halls, a nearly 1000 seat Fine Arts Center Theater, swimming pool and football field. Students have access to a fitness center and a campus movie theater. A long-held tradition, The Great Race, was created in 1967 and is celebrated each spring. Students form teams and compete against each other in several go cart races for one week. Each fall, as a rite of passage, new students climb W Mountain and paint the W during the first week of the new school year.