Terror Bill Would Limit Florida Scholars' Travel

[Michael Hoover <hooverm@xxxxxxxxxx>]

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Terror bill would limit Florida scholars' travels
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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@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx or
407-435-3115.



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