Two groups of University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire students planning to travel to Mexico had to change their plans after a United States Department of State travel advisory led university policymakers to cancel its support for the trips.

The Center for International Education canceled a summer study abroad program to Monterrey, Mexico, said CIE director Karl Markgraf.

The students’ destination, Monterrey, had been directly cited in the travel advisory as a location of ongoing dangerous drug cartel and gang violence, Markgraf said.

“This violence has been going on for a long time and it’s really been increasing,” he said.

The program planned to send 14 students to the Technological Institute of Higher Learning of Monterrey to study Spanish language as well as Latin American studies.

However, two students were shot outside the gates of the university Friday, Markgraf said, and university policy and consideration of student’s safety led to the cancellation of the trip.

He added in its place, UW-Eau Claire has planned an alternative study abroad program for the students in San Isidro, Costa Rica.

After seeing the press surrounding the violence in Mexico, some students felt relieved when the trip was canceled and grateful to have the university provide an alternative, Markgraf said.

Three other students planning to travel to Durango, Mexico, for spring break next week have also had a change of plans.

University policy cancelled an incentive grant from the Center for Service Learning that would have reimbursed the students’ travel expenses up to $500, said Donald Mowry, director of the Center for Service Learning.

“The university has adopted this rule … wanting to emphasize that students’ safety is first and foremost,” he said.

The students had planned to work at a free clinic outside Durango, measuring residents’ vital signs and educating them about high blood pressure, Mowry said.

Although the university no longer supports the trip, the students can still choose to go, he added.

Mowry said he had not heard whether the students still planned to go to Mexico. However, he advised them to purchase travel insurance and take additional precautions should they choose to go.