Many U.S. College Students Head to Cuba (Look dude These people aren't evil ) BARF ALERT

AP ^ | 1/2/2003 | AP

[TLBSHOW]

Many U.S. College Students Head to Cuba

Although Europe remains by far the top destination for U.S. college students studying abroad, more and more are choosing to enhance their education at an exotic location closer to home: Cuba.

Long off-limits to all but a few Americans, Cuba allowed 905 U.S. students to visit during the 2000-01 school year, a 64 percent increase over the year before.

The number is expected to grow the next time figures are released as students increasingly turn to the only communist nation in the Western Hemisphere.

"It's sort of forbidden fruit," said University of Nebraska senior Shane Pekny, part of a contingent of 12 communications majors who will visit Cuba this month.

Before traveling to Cuba, a school must first obtain a license from the U.S. Treasury Department prohibiting the students from engaging in commercial enterprise during their visit. Each student must also obtain a visa from Fidel Castro's government.

The vice president of educational services at the Institute of International Education said the mystique about a country largely inaccessible to U.S. tourists since 1963 is just part of the attraction.

"I think universities around the United States are seeing this as a good site to give students the opportunity to look at a lot of issues at once," Peggy Blumenthal said. "To look at the issue of Cuba, per se, is to look at a communist system compared to a capitalist system, as well as the opportunity to look at transition issues" facing a developing nation.

During their one-week visit, Pekny and his classmates plan to study such things as Cuban agriculture, the impact on Nebraska farmers should the U.S. trade embargo be lifted, and the mechanical magic that keeps 1950s-vintage American cars on Cuban roads.

"The Cuban mechanics are practically gods," said Drake University philosophy professor Jonathan Torgerson, who has taken groups from Des Moines to Cuba every year since 1996.

If relations between the United States and Cuba are normalized, Torgerson believes college students deserve part of the credit.

"We have forged the way in terms of making contacts," he said.

Omar Lopez, a spokesman for the Cuban American National Foundation the powerful Miami-based group of anti-Castro exiles said U.S. students who travel to Cuba are being used by Castro. Lopez pointed out that visits with dissidents or the jails holding political prisoners are not part of the itinerary.

"What they're trying to do is have a charm offensive aimed at the United States," he said.

Sarah Phend was charmed during the three months she spent in Cuba last summer taking classes, working on a farm and mingling with ordinary citizens.

"Cuba was always something I'd been taught to fear," said Phend, a senior communications major at Goshen College in Indiana. "And then, when I went, I wasn't afraid of it anymore. When I got back I could tell people Cuba is a very good place."

Convinced she saw the real Cuba, Phend has spent the months since her return regaling classmates, relatives and others with tales about the people met during her visit.

"Sometimes I wish I could talk to George Bush about Cuba and say, `Look, dude. These people aren't evil. What's your problem?'" Phend said.

[Publius]

Seen in Havana, a government billboard with the words "Socialism or death!" in large type. Printed beneath it in black spray paint: "What's the difference?"

[Mark]

Let's see now. A few decades ago a Demoncrat U.S. president arranged for many lunatics and criminals to float onto our shores from that fine resort. Now we can ship similar groups to Cuba? Sounds fair to me.

[Cincinatus]

Cuba was always something I'd been taught to fear," said Phend, a senior communications major at Goshen College in Indiana.

Coming soon as anchor-person at a liberally biased network near you.

[cardinal4]

"Sometimes I wish I could talk to George Bush about Cuba and say, `Look, dude. These people aren't evil. What's your problem?'" Phend said.

I dont blame her for her sickening liberal bias nor her shocking naivete. I blame the teachers at Goshen University for creating this communist sympathizer.

[wideawake]

I love comments like that. Who taught her to "fear" Cuba?

If anything, I was taught to pity Cuba and the Cubans who are trapped under the yoke of a megalomaniacal dictator.

"Sometimes I wish I could talk to George Bush about Cuba and say, `Look, dude. These people aren't evil. What's your problem?'" Phend said.

What a genius. If she honestly believes the system under which the Cuban people are suffering should be encouraged and aided by the US - then she has problems which will probably never be solved.

[TLBSHOW]

"Cuba was always something I'd been taught to fear," said Phend, a senior communications major at Goshen College in Indiana. "And then, when I went, I wasn't afraid of it anymore. When I got back I could tell people Cuba is a very good place."

Convinced she saw the real Cuba, Phend has spent the months since her return regaling classmates, relatives and others with tales about the people met during her visit.


I BLAME THE GOVERNMENT FOR LETTING THEM GO THERE TO START WITH BECAUSE THEY WILL COME BACK AND SPREAD COMMUNIST BS ACROSS AMERICA!

[TLBSHOW]

IN FACT IF THIS ISN'T A REASON FOR A FREEP OF WHOEVER LETS THIS HAPPEN I DON'T KNOW WHAT IS.

[TLBSHOW]

Published Monday, February 8, 1999, in the Miami Herald

700 U.S. students will sail to Cuba
College program at sea wins approval for a three-day visit



President Clinton's administration has been easing restrictions on exchanges with Cuba. For example, the Baltimore Orioles may play an exhibition game against Cuban players this year.
http://infomanage.com/caribbean/cuba/078699.htm

[MotleyGirl70]

I dont blame her for her sickening liberal bias nor her shocking naivete. I blame the teachers at Goshen University for creating this communist sympathizer.

I agree, however, I would add her parents to that list along with the professors.

I would say for the most part politics are usually taught at home beginning with the political stand parents take.

I would say her parents are of the late 60's generation.

Just like me; I grew up in conservative household and I'm conservative.

I know NOT ALL children follow their parents/families political views but more so than NOT, I would say they do.

[TLBSHOW]

blame Clinton and Gore

[dead]

"Cuba was always something I'd been taught to fear," said Phend, a senior communications major at Goshen College in Indiana.

What a load of crap!

I'd bet she hasn't spent one minute of her life learning the very real reasons she should fear the communism of Cuba and elsewhere.

The 100 million + killed this century by this evil ideology don't teach history. The supporters of their murderers do.

[bassmaner]

Will someone please tell these "educated" morons what a "Potemkin Village" is?

[TLBSHOW]

Thanks to Michigan State University's recent success in obtaining an institutional license for travel to Cuba, students will soon be participating in a new study abroad program in Havana, capital city of the island nation. "Caribbean Regional Development: The Cuban Experience" will be offered for the first time for four weeks beginning May 19, 2002.

The program is sponsored by the Department of Geography's Urban and Regional Planning Programin the College of Social Science and will offer students from any MSU majors the opportunity to earn ISS (social science integrative studies), geography, and/or independent study credits.

The program is directed by two geography professors, René Hinojosa and Robert N. Thomas, who deserve the lion's share of credit for making the program a reality. Here at MSU, they worked with individuals and offices at many levels, including their department and college, the Office of Study Abroad (OSA), and the Center for Latin American and Caribbean Studies (CLACS). They also worked with colleagues and officials at the University of Havana, the hosting institution, to establish the institutional linkage, arrange a series of guest lecturers, and work out the logistics of housing, meals, facilities, and travel that the program will entail. In June 2001, the pair spent a week in Havana on an OSA planning grant doing face-to-face planning. Their tenacity paid off when the program was given final approval in November 2001, upon notification from the State Department that the MSU Institutional License for Academic Activities in Cuba had been granted. (See related article.)

Interest in establishing MSU study abroad in Cuba (and other MSU-Cuba connections) has been growing for several years, mirroring a gradual relaxing of tensions between Cuba and the United States. While the U.S. trade embargo and travel restrictions, imposed after U.S.-Cuban diplomatic ties were broken in 1961, are still officially in force, more exceptions are being allowed. Trips by U.S. lawmakers and business people have become increasingly frequent. MSU joins a small but growing list of universities offering study abroad opportunities in Cuba, including American University, Connecticut, Duke, Florida International, North Carolina, NYU, at least two SUNY schools, Tulane, and Virginia Tech.

Dozens of interested students visited the Cuba program table at the January 2002 Study Abroad Fair, and as this article goes to press, the 20 spaces are filled and a waiting list has been established. MSU psychology major Simeon Climo, who is registered for the program, heard about it from two MSU friends, Jake Spencer (international relations) and Alex Knott (finance), who are also going. Climo jumped at the chance to spend time in Cuba. "It's such a unique opportunity," he said. "Why wouldn't anybody want to go?" Having previously spent a year studying in Israel, he is interested in comparing the socialist system of Cuba with the Israeli kibbutz system. He is also curious about how the portrayal of Cuban life in U.S. media may differ from the reality experienced by the Cuban people.

As explained in the program brochure, "the program will use Havana and its surroundings as laboratories and will place particular emphasis on understanding the interaction between human and physical aspects of development focusing on the role of tourism in the region. . . . Through classroom presentations and field experiences, students will study Cuba in the context of general Latin American development and urbanization trends. These discussions will focus on the relationships among tourism and population growth issues, rural to urban migration and the internal structure of Havana."

While in Havana, students will be housed in a hotel a few blocks from the campus. Intensive class sessions will take place on campus Monday through Thursday, with organized field trips on Fridays and Saturdays complementing the lectures. Field experiences will take place in Havana as well as Pinar del Río (a tobacco-producing area near the west end of the island), Cienfuegos (a sugar-producing area southeast of Havana) and nearby Bahía de Cochinos ("Bay of Pigs"), and Varadero (a major coastal resort development area east of Havana).

As is the case with all MSU study abroad programs, participants are expected to return to MSU having experienced a new culture as well as having engaged in a novel academic experience. In the case of this particular program, says Professor Thomas, "It will [also] give Cuban students an opportunity to share ideas and to . . . find out what life is like at MSU."

http://www.isp.msu.edu/international/2_02/cuba/me.html

[KC_Conspirator]

During their one-week visit, Pekny and his classmates plan to study such things as Cuban agriculture, the impact on Nebraska farmers should the U.S. trade embargo be lifted, and the mechanical magic that keeps 1950s-vintage American cars on Cuban roads.

"The Cuban mechanics are practically gods," said Drake University philosophy professor Jonathan Torgerson, who has taken groups from Des Moines to Cuba every year since 1996.

I about choked on my coffee when I heard these little brainwashed morons! The reason they still have 1950's cars is because they whole country has been stuck in the 1950's you idiot! Maybe these little buffoons should ask themself why millions of people are still trying to LEAVE that country!

[TLBSHOW]

Their tenacity paid off when the program was given final

approval in November 2001,

upon notification from the

State Department

that the MSU Institutional License for Academic Activities in Cuba had been granted.

[bmwcyle]

How many students get to see the dead bodies of Castro?

[TLBSHOW]

approval in November 2001,

upon notification from the

State Department

[MotleyGirl70]

blame Clinton and Gore

Oh well of course. They can be blamed first and foremost. Those two buffoon's are two of the biggest commie sympathizers and wusses to be POTUS and VPOTUS. Remember Bubba: "Feels your pain!"

Are we sure The Bent One wasn't born and raised in China?

[TLBSHOW]

PING