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Gov. Bush ready to sign
bill barring professors, students from Cuba
travel
By Mark Hollis. Tallahassee
Bureau. Florida
Sun-Sentinel, May 24 2006.
TALLAHASSEE · Gov. Jeb Bush indicated
Tuesday he will sign a bill that would forbid
professors and students from visiting Cuba
and other nations accused of supporting
terrorism.
Bush's backing of the legislation, sponsored
by state Rep. David Rivera, a Miami Republican
who represents a portion of Broward County,
would make Florida one of the most restrictive
states for travel by scholars.
The bill bans 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. Five countries would be considered
off-limits: Cuba, Iran, North Korea, Sudan
and Syria.
The bill does not specify penalties for
violators.
The proposal, which easily cleared both
chambers of the Florida Legislature earlier
this month, has been sharply criticized
by academics as an infringement on their
rights that would impede important research,
especially in Cuba. These critics said it
would impede advancement in a wide variety
of studies, including agriculture and public
health..
Damian Fernandez, director of the Cuban
Research Institute at Florida International
University, warned that the proposal will
undermine efforts to recruit scholars who
study in Florida and abroad. Wayne S. Smith,
a senior fellow at the Center for International
Policy in Washington, D.C., said the legislation
would block potentially valuable research
for Florida, and that there is little political
justification for such a ban.
Bush downplayed the criticism, saying he
thinks public and private money should not
"go to countries that are our enemies."
He also said he is skeptical that much legitimate
research is conducted during travel to those
countries.
Rivera has said the recent case of a Florida
International University professor being
indicted on espionage charges involving
travel to Cuba, all supposedly paid for
by private funds, demonstrates the importance
of the travel ban.
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