A May 25 e-mail from the Provost’s Office discouraging students from traveling to Mexico caused one of UNM’s summer programs to change its plans. However, at least two other programs based in Mexico still plan on visiting the violence-ridden country.
The e-mail said that Deputy Provost Richard Holder is advising students to avoid the Juarez area. It cited an El Paso Times article about a University of Texas at El Paso student who was murdered while driving on a highway outside of Ciudad Juarez, Mexico.
Carolyn Gonzales, UNM spokeswoman, said Conexiones, a University Honors Program class that was planning to travel to Morelia, Mexico, by bus, is now taking place in Nicaragua.
“They were going to drive,” she said. “They usually rent a van or take a UNM van and drive. They were going to go on that same highway where the two UTEP students were killed, and so they’ve opted to just do something completely different.”
Caroline Muraida, a student in Conexiones, said students will go to Casa Xalteva, a school in Granada, Nicaragua, where students can learn Spanish. Ken Carpenter, associate director of UNM’s Offics of International Programs and Studies, founded Casa Xalteva.
“We’ll be learning Spanish at the Casa Xalteva school, maybe teaching English, and basically having the same Conexiones experience — just in a different country,” Muraida said.
Muraida said the ongoing violence in Mexico wouldn’t dissuade her from visiting the country in the summer through an Anderson School of Management program. She said she isn’t disappointed about the change in plans.
“I was really pumped to go to Mexico, but when I found out we were going to Nicaragua instead, I just got really excited,” she said. “It’s a great chance to practice my Spanish in a country that’s not as familiar as Mexico.”
Despite safety concerns, Gonzales said other UNM programs are still traveling to Mexico, including a School of Law program based in Guanajuato, Mexico, and Communication and Journalism’s Cross-Border Issues Group, which is traveling to Michoacan, Mexico, as well as Guatemala and Honduras.
UNM is taking extra security precautions for students who are traveling out of the country this summer, Gonzales said.
“They’re keeping track of who all (are) going where,” she said. “They have full itineraries of what people are doing, access to people while they’re down there and encouraging students not to go through the border.”
Richard Schaefer, a faculty mentor for the Cross-Border Issues Group, said he warns his students to be aware of their surroundings.
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“Don’t do things that young people often do — hitchhike, use alcohol, that kind of stuff,” he said.
Schaefer said students benefit from traveling internationally because they gain new perspectives and learn about different cultures. He said students in the Cross-Border Issues Group study immigration policy and use video and radio media to report what they’ve learned.
“There are so many misconceptions about what Mexicans are like in our own media in particular,” he said. “Students are going to understand these people a lot better and understand why people migrate.”
Since the program is insightful to students, Schaefer said he is pleased that UNM administrators didn’t cancel all programs traveling to Mexico.
“I think the easiest thing for University administrators to do in a situation like this is to cancel all programs,” he said. “I appreciate the fact that the administrators at UNM understand the value of international programs.”
Gonzales said that the Provost’s office made some funds available for students to use toward flights to Mexico. She said the money can be used to offset the costs for students who were planning to drive.
