Thirteen Tufts students will have the opportunity to study abroad in Cuba this summer through Norfolk State University's (NSU) six-week program.
The program will award two course credits to Tufts students and is offered in Havana at Casa de lasAméricas in the Academic Unit of the Schools of Letters and Art History at the University of Havana. Both undergraduate and graduate students can enroll.
"[Casa de lasAméricas is] one of the biggest intellectual centers historically in Cuba," Nina Gerassi-Navarro, an associate professor of Latin American literature and culture and director of the Latin American studies program, said.
Professor emeritus Claudia Kaiser-Lenoir, a former associate professor in the Department of Romance Languages and coordinator of the trip, suggested that Tufts students be invited on NSU's program after a recent regulation change allowed universities to include students from other universities on their Cuba programs.
Kaiser-Lenoir taught classes in Cuba last summer when NSU first brought students to Cuba in a ten-week program.
Lodging will be in the Casa de las Americas dormitories, and the program will have an estimated twenty-four participants in total, Director of International Programs at NSU William Alexander told the Daily.
Courses, including Kaiser-Lenoir's "Special Topics in Cuban Culture and Society Since the 1959 Revolution," will give students access to local experts.
"I taught a similarly organized course at Tufts, but we didn't have any Cuban experts, just experts on Cuba," Kaiser-Lenoir explained. "Cuba attracts people from all over the world that flock there to see how things are put together. It's not that everything works well, but there are some things that work intriguingly effectively, so it's an interesting laboratory… [Cuba has] very impressive records in many key areas that are of central importance to people like health, education, and the environment."
Alexander said he is happy to be offering the program in conjunction with Tufts.
"[Kaiser-Lenoir] taught our students for five weeks this past summer [in Cuba], and the students were just thrilled with her energy and knowledge," he said.
Although faculty of the International Relations Program, the International Letters and Visual Studies Program, the Latin American Studies Program, the Department of Romance Languages and the Institute for Global Leadership last year made proposals for a semester-long non-Tufts program in Cuba in conjunction with the Juan Marinello Cuban Institute for Cultural Research, that program never came to fruition.
A student-organized petition last spring in support of a study abroad program in Cuba collected more than 100 signatures, according to Rosario Dominguez, who was involved with the petition.
"A group of interested students decided that we should get the word out to the entire Tufts community, so some of us started the petition," Dominguez, a junior, said.
Kaiser-Lenoir said that a general interest meeting on Jan. 25 for the summer program attracted about forty students and many email inquiries.
AveriBecque, a junior, is considering participating in the program because of Cuba's current role in international affairs.
"The changes [Cuba] is going through right now are really compelling ... with the political reforms, now is a good time to get to know the country while there are still a lot of vestiges of Castro's rule, before it opens up to US markets," Becque explained.
While NSU students will enroll in three courses, due to a Tufts policy that prohibits transfer of more than two credits during a six-week period, Tufts students will only enroll in two courses, and the program cost of $5,450 reflects the difference, according to Kaiser-Lenoir.
Tufts students will be accepted on the basis of their academic standing and particular interest in the program, according to Kaiser-Lenoir.
NSU gives preference to applicants with some previous experience with Spanish in either high school or college, according to Alexander.
In 2004, regulations under former President George W. Bush were enacted that forbade American undergraduates from studying in Cuba unless their accredited university offered courses for credit for an entire semester within the nation, Kaiser-Lenoir explained. An annual license was required to offer such programming and few universities were able to maintain a license. Although Tufts held one, it utilized the license solely for graduate study, usually for short-term trips led by Kaiser-Lenoir.
Despite the legal challenges, some Tufts students have found ways in recent years to study in Cuba. According to Foreign Study Advisor Brian Libby, a handful of Tufts students were able to study in Cuba in 2010 by technically withdrawing from the university and temporarily transferring to the State University of New York Oswego or Presbyterian College to attend their programs in Cuba.
"Students are eager to immerse themselves and increase their proficiency," he said.
