Lieutenant Governor Brian Dubie arranged the sale of cows to Cuba. And now Vermont is expanding relations with the communist country in another way.

In addition to cows, Vermont would send students to study in Cuba.

Michael Sherman, the academic dean at Burlington College, traveled to Cuba with a local delegation in December. Burlington College has a preliminary agreement with the University of Havana to start an inter-American studies program.

"We feel here that we really need to know more about them and we really need to be engaged with them. As you know, Lieutenant Governor Dubie has already established a connection with Cuba through the dairy industry. And so this, to us remote area from here in Vermont, is actually, we've got a lot of close ties," said Michael Sherman of the Burlington College Inter-American Studies Program

Burlington College has permission from the State Department to send students to Cuba for academic purposes.

College president Jane Sanders says she expects to travel to Cuba this spring to finalize the program.

Source: 3WCAX.TV