• Submitted by: manso
• United States
• Politics and Government
• 09 / 08 / 2010

---

Monday, September 6, 2010 23:09. University of Nebraska-Lincoln students may be able to study abroad in Cuba in the near future.

On June 30, 2010, the House Agriculture Committee voted 25-20 to improve United States’ relationship with Cuba by ending the ban on travel and allowing for more agricultural trade.

The Travel Restriction Reform and Export Enhancement Act still has a long way to go before it can be voted on by the House and Senate.

Still, many see the vote as a sign of progress and a step in the direction of less hostile relations between the two countries.

It has been almost 50 years since the Cuban embargo was first put into effect.

“Because it’s been closed off for a number of years, I definitely think there would be an interest from UNL students,” said Christa Joy, a study abroad director with International Affairs.

Whether the university would end up making a trip to Cuba really depends upon student interest.

“I’ve never been out of the country, but something like Cuba would be really cool,” said Blake Severs, a senior psychology major.

Not all students would be interested in strictly academic studies.

“With the state Cuba is in right now, I don’t think I’d want to study there,” said Tiffany Moeller, a senior chemical engineering major.

“I’d be more likely to go to do humanitarian work.”

Cuba remains somewhat of a mysterious country, despite its proximity to the United States.

“I would like to go because I don’t know a lot about Cuba,” said Steffi Neisen, a freshman secondary education major.

“It’s a place you hear about, but you don’t know what’s really going on.”

A study abroad trip to Cuba could bring with it many things for UNL students.

Some individuals at UNL have already had the opportunity to visit the country.

The university last took a study abroad group to Cuba in January 2003 with professors and a dozen journalism students.

The group spent six weeks studying the country before spending eight days there practicing in-depth reporting.

“From an educational standpoint, it was almost a life-altering experience for the students we took with us,” said Joe Starita, an associate professor in the College of Journalism and Mass Communications, who was on the trip.

The trip was legal and took a lot of persistence to get clearance from the U.S. government to go, Starita said.

He also said the group felt extremely safe while in Cuba, safer than any major American city.

There were soldiers on every corner.

Starita said he would take another group.

“It was an exhilarating experience on multiple levels for the group we took,” he said.

Journalism professor Jerry Renaud was also on the trip.

“It was a fabulous experience,” he said.

“You’re able to see incredible beauty and incredible poverty at the same time.”

As to whether another trip would actually be happening anytime soon, Renaud is less certain.

“I’m not sure that kind of trip is possible with these restrictions anymore,” Renaud said.

“I think it will happen sometime. But when? I just really can’t make a prediction.”

Starita is optimistic that the government will give up the travel embargo.

Every year, he said, he thinks that decision becomes more attractive.

Peter Bleed, an anthropology professor, was able to travel to Cuba to do research on battlefields.

He applied for a National Geographic Society grant, which gave him the funding to go.

Bleed described the process of getting permission as extremely frustrating, but the trip itself was very much worth the hassle.

“People were wonderful. People were great. The living is easy. It’s economical,” Bleed said.

“I think it’d be a great place to do a foreign study. Some of my advice is be curious, be respectful, and it will be great.”

He said he disagreed strongly with the embargo, saying it was “crazy, foolish and doesn’t make any sense.”

“We should lift it tomorrow,” he said.

Bleed thinks studying abroad in Cuba at this point in history would be especially valuable for students.

“If I was 19 and looking for an area to get involved in, it’d be a perfect time,” Bleed said.

“Over the next few years, Cuba is going to be very dynamic.”

By Hailey Konnath

[email protected]

Source: www.dailynebraskan.com/