VOL 94 : 07 october 5th, 2016 The independent student newspaper of St. John’s University
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SJU OFFERS HISTORIC TRIP ABROAD TO CUBA INSIDE THE ISSUE Tipoff: SGI discusses lack of performer at last floor meeting Page 5 FALL ME MAYBE:
4 Sieta Leon painted this scene of Cuba to honor the recent addition of the country to the list of places SJU students can study abroad.
ISABELLA BRUNI Chief Copy Editor After nearly 50 years of political tensions, the United States is now beginning to take advantage of the opportunity to enter Cuba after diplomatic relations between the two countries were restored this past July. This decision extends to St. John’s, where The Center for Latin American and Caribbean Studies Chair and the program director for the trip, Dr. Alina Camacho-Gingerich, are excited to announce a short-term program to Havana, Cuba during the winter intersession from Jan. 4-18, 2017 named “Cuba from Within.” “It’s very exciting to have the course and trip, especially because of the diplomatic relations President Obama re-established between Cuba and the US,” said program director Camacho. The travel ban on the U.S. into Cuba began under President John F. Kennedy after the Cuban Missile Crisis in 1962, and was officially lifted in 2010. Up until Jan. 2016, Americans had to give prior notice to the Cuban government and go through an official evaluation process in order to travel there. Camacho has traveled back to her native Cuba multiple times over the last few years to create a curriculum to benefit American students interested in Cuban culture, liter-
ature, history, politics and other related fields of study, as well as feed into her own intellectual curiosities. Camacho is a professor of Spanish at St. John’s and emigrated from Cuba with her family as a teenager. The program itself is open to undergraduate and graduate students and there are three courses available to take. The classes for undergraduates include “SPA 4990A: Cuban Culture, History, Politics, Art, and Literature,” offered in Spanish or English and “LAC 1000C: Language and Culture in Cuba.” The graduate class offered is “SPA 306: Seminar on Cuban Literature, Culture, and Art.” The targeted amount of students to take on the trip is 25 but since there has been an overwhelming amount of interest with 58 applications, the number may be subject to change. Assistant Director of Academics and Short-Term Programs, Greg Bruhn adds, “This has been the most sought after program I’ve ever seen.” Bruhn noted that students of all majors can attend the program, not just Spanish majors. “It’s a two-week intensive program in Cuba, so the idea is to make sure that the students get to know Cuba as well as possible in that short amount of time in the intersession between the end of fall semester and before the spring semester,” said Camacho. Continued on page 3
Highlights of the best things to do around the city for fall Pages 10 & 11