Tania Deluzuriaga Sentinel Staff Writer
May 23, 2006
Florida could become one of the most restrictive states in the nation for international scholars under a proposal that would forbid professors and students from visiting Cuba and other nations accused of supporting terrorism.
Gov. Jeb Bush has expressed support for the bill and is likely to sign it into law. The measure, passed unanimously by the Legislature earlier this month, prohibits faculty and students at public universities and community colleges from using "state or non-state funds" to travel to any country deemed a sponsor of terrorists. Those guidelines would go further than those of the federal government.
Five countries would be off-limits, according to the list of terror nations issued by the U.S. State Department: Cuba, Iran, North Korea, Sudan and Syria.
"I don't think Florida taxpayers want their public resources being used to subsidize trips to terrorist countries," said Rep. David Rivera, R-Miami, who first tried to pass the legislation two years ago. "We're engaged in a hot war against terror."
The proposal has caused an outcry among academics who say it would cut Florida off from important research, especially in Cuba. Although much academic fieldwork is funded through private foundations, not the state, the grants are often channeled through universities, not given directly to a professor.
"This is one of those instances where they're trying to be more Catholic than the pope," said Houman Sadri, a University of Central Florida political-science professor who specializes in foreign policy and relations in the Middle East. "Everyone in this country is for apple pie and their mothers. It's the same with counter-terrorism. There's no constituency against it."
Sadri, who has traveled extensively in the Middle East, including Iran, says such trips are vital if the United States is going to formulate sound foreign policy. Several Florida academics have testified before Congress and provided information to other parts of the federal government on their research in terrorist states, particularly Cuba.
"How do we make a good decision about something if we don't understand it?" he said. "Political climates change -- you need to go every couple years. Otherwise, you don't know what's going on."
Law affects slate of studies
Although the law pertains to research in a small number of nations, it would affect academics who study a variety of issues -- from architecture in Cuba to public health in Syria.
"It makes us a pariah, a joke," said Carmen Diana Deere, director of the University of Florida's Center for Latin American Studies. "To me, as a professor, it's embarrassing."
UF, with the largest library collection on Cuba in the world, is a leader in Cuban studies. But professors there say they won't be seen as experts for long if they can't conduct field research.
"It's the kind of thing where you have to be there," said Jalane Schmidt, an assistant religion professor at the University of Florida who studies the way religion changed under various Cuban regimes in the 20th century.
A large part of Schmidt's job consists of collecting oral histories that otherwise might be forgotten as Cuba's older generation dies off.
"People feel they've been kept from researching and accessing their own history," she said. "As a foreigner, people speak more openly with me. I've been told things that can't see the light of day in Cuba."
Professors say the legislation also would undermine the state's efforts to attract the best students to study in Florida.
"It would make us the most restrictive state in the nation," said Damian Fernandez, director of the Cuban Research Institute at Florida International University. "It's going to hurt the institution. What serious master's or Ph.D. student is going to come here to study Cuba when they know they can't travel to the island?"
Many academics oppose bill
Many academics, including university-system Chancellor Mark Rosenberg, opposed the bill on the premise that it would prevent Florida researchers from doing work that would benefit the state and the nation.
"When the U.S. embargo [on Cuba] is lifted -- whenever that is -- the implications for Florida agriculture will be more significant for our economy than for any other single event in the history of our state," said Bill Messina, an agricultural economist at the University of Florida.
Messina, who returned from a trip to Cuba earlier this month, has been studying agriculture on the island nation for more than 12 years.\
Messina's research has been used by the U.S. International Trade Commission and by congressional committees.
"If this passes, we're basically shut down," Messina said.
The American Association of University Professors came out against the bill this month, sending a letter to the Governor's Office saying it would impose significant administrative burdens on Florida colleges and universities and seriously harm academic freedom.
"Even during the darkest days of the Cold War years there was certain contact going on between American and Soviet scholars," said Jonathan Knight, director of the program on academic freedom for the university professors' group. "There is a strong belief that those kind of connections between academics are vital to advancing knowledge and understanding."
Rivera said he was pushed to pass the bill after two Florida International University professors were arrested in January and accused of being spies for Cuba.
"I want to protect the universities' integrity," he said.
Critics of the bill say the Cuban-American lawmaker is simply out to appeal to his supporters.
"This is Representative Rivera's attempt to get his base excited," said Dennis Jett, the dean of the international center at the University of Florida. "What this does to Florida agriculture, he's not concerned about. What this does to academic freedom, he's not concerned about."
Tania deLuzuriaga can be reached at tdeluzuriaga at orlandosentinel.com or 407-435-3115.
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