[Source – Mexico Solidarity Network]
Academic Delegations to Cuba
The Autonomous University of Social Movements (AUSM) in Chicago and the Martin Luther King Memorial Center in Havana invite you to participate in an academic delegation to Cuba to investigate possibilities for short term or semester-long study abroad programs. The two trips will take place on the following dates:
Delegation #1: July 7-14
Delegation #2: August 13-20
Cost: $800 + airfare
The agenda includes meetings with Cuban academics, popular organizations, NGOs and government officials. We’ll visit home-stay options and classrooms, and we’ll look at the academic program developed by the Autonomous University of Social Movements for a semester-long study abroad program that we’ll be launching in January 2012. And of course, we’ll visit Cuba’s famous beaches and the historic center of Havana.
We’ll be housed at the Centro Memorial Martin Luther King in Havana’s Marianao neighborhood.
The cost of the trip is only $800 (you’ll have to bring this with you in cash) plus plane flight from Miami. You can make reservations through Marazul Tours at (201) 319-1054; ask for Bob Guild.
Suggested flights:
July 7 – 3:00pm departure (noon check-in) from Miami, $399 RT
August 12 – 3:15pm departure (noon check-in) from Miami, $399 RT
To join the delegation, please send the following information to ausm@mexicosolidarity.org:
NAME:
INSTITUTION:
ADDRESS:
PHONE:
EMAIL:
ACADEMIC POSITION:
Legal travel to Cuba for academics and students:
New regulations issued by the Obama administration in January, 2011, permit travel to Cuba for academic purposes. The regulations, issued by the Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC), outline a “general license” (no application required):
(a) General license. Accredited U.S. graduate and undergraduate degree-granting academic institutions, including faculty, staff, and students of such institutions, are authorized to engage in the travel-related transactions set forth in § 515.560(c) and such additional transactions that are directly incident to:
(1) Participation in a structured educational program in Cuba as part of a course offered for credit by the sponsoring U.S. academic institution. An individual traveling to engage in such transactions must carry a letter on official letterhead, signed by a designated representative of the sponsoring U.S. academic institution, stating that the Cuba-related travel is part of a structured educational program
of the sponsoring U.S. academic institution, and stating that the individual is a member of the faculty or staff of that institution or is a student currently enrolled in a graduate or undergraduate degree program at an accredited U.S. academic institution and that the study in Cuba will be accepted for credit toward that degree;
(6) The organization of, and preparation for, activities described in paragraphs (a)(1) through (a)(5) of this section by members of the faculty and staff of the sponsoring U.S. academic institution. An individual engaging in such transactions must carry a letter on official letterhead, signed by a designated representative of the sponsoring U.S. academic institution, stating that the individual is a member of the faculty or staff of that institution, and is traveling to engage in the transactions authorized by this paragraph on behalf of that institution.