Raúl Castro became president of Cuba on Sunday. Though many opponents of former President Fidel Castro lament the choice of his brother as the new leader, the change still has some potential to change students' academic lives.
Although organizations at Tufts fund students to conduct research all over the world, Tufts undergraduates have not touched Cuba in some time due to a federal law change passed several years ago restricting undergraduates from conducting research in Cuba unless, among other things, their stay in the country lasts at least ten weeks.
Ten weeks are just a tad too long for any winter break or spring break trips, and the law also dashes the hopes of students of Cuba who also would need to hold a job or take classes for a summer.
Tufts does have a history of shorter research trips for undergraduates. Rubén Salinas Stern, the director of the Latino Center, led undergraduates on a research trip to Cuba for the first time in 2002. But since the law change he has only been able to take graduate students.
With some presidential candidates calling for increased open dialogue with Cuba, however, and a new Cuban president in power who, according to political science lecturer Jose Antonio Lucero's interview with the Daily yesterday, has recently been more open to political criticisms made by Cuban students, we may soon be able to get our foot in Havana's door.
That would of course require Americans students to put forth an effort and get study programs going in - and on - Cuba. And has there been a better time than now to look at our southern neighbor?
There are very few real watershed moments in any nation's history and it's often hard to see them until they have passed. In Cuba, one such moment was Jan. 1, 1959, when Fidel took power. Ten U.S. presidents and one Cold War later, we find ourselves at the end of his rule, and the here-and-now in Cuba may shape the country's future more than any other period since then.
The chance to go and see Cuba during this time of change should make students' mouths water. Whether you study anthropology, sociology, political science, urban studies or any other humanity concentration, the country's changing political, cultural and economic landscapes will provide fodder for significant, real-world research and analysis.
Even if Raúl Castro does not actively change the Cuban government to a great extent, the people of Cuba realize that if they want change, now is the time to press for it.
By the time these changes could happen it will probably be too late for seniors to make it on a Tufts-sponsored trip to Cuba. Freshmen, on the other hand, should keep this in mind and start to learn both about Cuba and the best way to get someone in power to put a small portion of Tufts' vast resource base toward funding a trip there.