Ruling delayed on ban of academic trips to Cuba

Ruling delayed on ban of academic trips to Cuba
Posted on Fri, Jul. 11, 2008
BY LAURA FIGUEROA
lfigueroa@MiamiHerald.com

A final decision on the legality of a Florida law banning academic trips
to Cuba was delayed once again Friday, after a federal court judge gave
both sides more time to compose their final arguments.

In dispute is a law passed by the Legislature two years ago that
restricts state universities and community colleges from sponsoring
academic trips to Cuba. In October 2006, the ACLU of Florida and several
state university professors and academic organizations filed a lawsuit
against the state and the case has been creeping through the court
system ever since.

Drafted by Rep. David Rivera, a Miami Republican, the law bans schools
from using public or private grants for research initiatives on the
communist island or any of the other four countries on the U.S. State
Department's list of nations with ties to terrorist groups.

''It's a clear and gigantic intrusion on academic freedom,'' said Bruce
W. Hauptli, chairman of Florida International University's Faculty
Senate, which is one of the groups that filed the lawsuit. ``We're going
to begin to lose faculty members to other states.''

The case has presented a bevy of technical arguments over what falls
under state or federal control. Lawyers for the American Civil Liberties
Union contend the measure tries to trump federal laws that allow
academic travel to the five nations.

They also contend schools should be allowed to use private funding to
pay for the trips, but Rivera argues the state has final say over the
money since grant money and applications are administered by state
employees.

''This is a very interesting case that has given me, my clerks, my
summer interns much to debate in an unlimited fashion,'' said U.S.
District Court Judge Patricia Ann Seitz. ``There are particular issues
that I have difficulties getting my arms around.''

Seitz, the trial's second judge since the suit was first filed, gave the
ACLU until July 22 to file the rest of their arguments, and gave the
state until Aug. 6 to file its response.

The case is just one of two Cuba-related laws working its way through
the federal court system.

Earlier this month, 16 Miami-Dade based travel agencies filed a lawsuit
in federal court against the state, challenging the constitutionality of
another Rivera bill approved by the Legislature in May.

That measure increases the fees and bonds that agencies selling trips to
Cuba must pay to the state. A judge temporarily lifted those
requirements and scheduled a hearing for Aug. 29 to further hash out
arguments presented by both sides.

http://www.miamiherald.com/news/americas/cuba/story/601886.html