UW-Milwaukee, Marquette makes sure students studying abroad in Paris, France are safe

MILWAUKEE -- The Paris attacks have several families with Milwaukee ties worried. More than a dozen Milwaukee based students are studying abroad and not all have reached out to their schools to say they are safe.

The University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee says they are still waiting to hear from four students in France. However, they say there is no reason to believe they have been harmed.

The images are haunting as the death toll rises in Paris. And while it may be thousands of miles away from UWM, nerves are still on edge.

"We have six students in France right now, four of them are in the Paris area and one of them is heading to Paris on Monday for a program to begin," said Mark Eckman.

Mark Eckman runs the study abroad program. Of the 170 destinations students are offered to study overseas, he never considered Paris as dangerous.

"We immediately sprung into action as far as reaching out to our students, reaching out to the partner institutions that we are working with," said Eckman.

Eckman says students are required to check back in with the school if an emergency hits. So far, he's heard from two.

He says there is no reason to believe the others were harmed in Friday's attacks.

Across town at Marquette, the university reports their seven students in France have checked in as being OK.

At UWM, the school says the students will likely have a choice to stay, or come home.

"If they feel comfortable staying, and we feel like Paris remains a safe place for our students to stay, then we will continue to support them," Eckman said.

Besides the students overseas, UWM says they have at least seven French students who are studying here in Milwaukee. They are reaching out to them as well, to make sure they are doing okay.

MSOE does not have any students in France right now. Neither does Alverno College.