UT SYSTEM: STAY OUT OF MEXICO

AUSTIN -- The University of Texas System said on Friday that all
students, faculty and staff in seven northern Mexico states should
immediately return home.

UT System officials cited escalating violence in the Mexican states as
the reason for recalling students attending university-sponsored
programs in Chihuahua, Coahuila, Nuevo Leon, Sonora, Tamaulipas, Baja
California and Durango.

Officials said the system's nine universities and six health
institutions are already planning the return of about 40 people.

A shootout in Juarez, which is in Chihuahua, killed at least five
federal police officers and one city police officer on the day the
recall was announced.

Francisco Cigarroa, the UT System chancellor, said in a statement that
safety concerns played a key role in the decision.

He said the actions taken "with regard to study-abroad programs and
other university-sponsored international activities are prudent, given
the unfortunate escalation in violence in these regions."

The suspension of travel for university-sponsored exchange programs in
the seven Mexican states is indefinite, officials said. They said they
would continue to monitor the situation before deciding to lift
restrictions.

Some universities began ordering that students return from Mexico even
before the recall was carried out.

The University of Texas at Austin this month suspended its exchange
program at the Monterrey Institute of Technology and Higher Education.
It recalled six university students because of concerns over
drug-cartel violence.

Administrators of the University of Texas at El Paso said student
travel into Mexico for institutional purposes has been "severely
restricted" since fall 2009.

But UTEP Executive Vice President Richard Adauto said that after the
recall was ordered, the university did ask two staff members in Mexico
City to return to El Paso if they were on university business.

The recall does not apply to that area, so the measure was more of a
precaution, Adauto said.

Donna Ekal, the associate provost for undergraduate studies at UTEP,
said the university also has one student studying near Mexico City.

Adauto said the suspension of university-sponsored travel to certain
states in Mexico could affect faculty and staff conducting research.

"I am sure it will affect some people's research efforts as well as
any collaborative efforts that were going on with Mexico, but there
were not a whole lot of people traveling into Mexico anymore anyway,"
Adauto said.

He added that university staff had already taken up videoconferencing
and other forms of electronic communications with their counterparts
in Mexico.

UT System officials said each campus has also been asked to
"carefully" review all university-sponsored programs in countries and
territories for which the U.S. Department of State has issued travel
warnings. Those areas include Kenya, Colombia and the
Philippines.

"The institution review committees at the campuses will be looking at
those programs and doing their own risk assessments to make sure that
those programs are OK and that proper safeguards are in place," said
Anthony DeBruyn, a spokesman for the UT System.