Recently, Loyola has come under fire for accepting a $425,000 grant from the U.S. government to continue running a humanitarian, service-oriented program in Havana, Cuba. While Loyola maintains that the program will remain apolitical, others argue that accepting government funds damages the impartiality of the program. The grant money may be viewed as another attempt by the U.S. to meddle in the island nation. Loyola signed the two-year agreement with the U.S. Agency of International Development on Oct. 25, 2004. The program will be a "democracy-building initiative" to be known as the "Henry Hyde Program of People-to-People Development," according to a Hyde press release. Hyde (R-Ill.) is the Illinois representative for the Sixth Congressional District of Illinois and a Loyola alum. The grant will be used to support a University Mission and Ministry program with the School of Education. The program sends the participants to Cuba to visit faith-based social service agencies. At one of these centers, Loyola has helped create an English as a Second Language program. Philip Hale, vice president of public affairs, said the service-learning opportunity was expensive to maintain. "Faced with increasing costs of travel and with increased U.S. regulations of travel, [University Mission and] Ministry decided to pursue outside funding opportunities, including government funding, in order to enable it to continue," Hale said. USAID, the organization that provided the grant money, provides economic, developmental and humanitarian assistance to four regions in the world: Sub-Saharan Africa, Asia and the Near East, Latin America and the Caribbean and Europe, according to USAID.gov. USAID gives assistance in support of the foreign policy goals of the United States, according to the organization's Web site. It is USAID's explicit support of the current administration's policies that make Loyola's acceptance of the grant seem problematic.  

However, political science professor Peter Sanchez said that he feels that USAID funds have had no effect in generating "regime change" to remove dictator Fidel Castro from power in Cuba. Prior to the grant, the program was stated to be devoid of political associations. The application for the 2004 trip stated that it was "not a political trip designed to support the Cuban government or organizations working against the Cuban government." Hale said that the organization will remain apolitical despite the fact that Hyde said that the exchange program would "set the foundations for democracy" at the grant signing. "The USAID grant only supports Loyola's non-political, humanitarian programs in Cuba," Hale said. "[The Henry Hyde Program] is not [to be] used to work with any organizations in Cuba that are part of the Cuban government, nor organizations that are actively working in opposition to the Cuban government." Hale said the grant has no strings attached. "The USAID grant does not change the aims of Loyola's Cuba program in any way. Nor is Loyola an agent of the U.S. government in Cuba," Hale said. Now that the program is being funded by U.S. money, Rebecca Burwell, a 2004 Loyola alum and post-doctorate fellow at the University of Notre Dame, feels that the program cannot deny any political affiliation. "If you're funded by the U.S. government and the program under which you're funded says that you're there to ... promote democracy, you can't as an institution say 'No, that's not what we're really doing,'" Burwell said. "There seems to be a real disconnect between the Henry Hyde initiative and the way [Loyola is] talking about [the program]." Burwell noted that Garanzini's presence at the public signing seemed to lend his approval to Hyde's political explanation of the program. Hale did not corroborate with Hyde's sentiments in the statement he released to the Phoenix. Burwell questioned if Garanzini was aware of the implication of his presence at the event where Hyde vocalized a political agenda for the program.

"To say that this [program is] not political is ... dishonest," Burwell said. In the statement, Hale said that the program's original humanitarian purpose will not change despite naming the program after Hyde. Hyde openly supports the embargo against Cuba, an action that many contend harms Cuban civilians more than it does the Cuban government. Marilyn McKenna, a coordinator for the Illinois Cuba Faith in Action Program, questions why Loyola would name the program after a congressperson who has supported Bush's Cuban policy, including supporting the embargo that limits what food and medicine can enter the island. "To name the program after [Hyde] is just astonishing," McKenna said. " We are very supportive of the program Loyola has been doing [but] we're really concerned where the program is going now that it is affiliated with the U.S. and Henry Hyde." Hale noted that although Hyde supports the embargo, the congressperson is "supportive of humanitarian aid" whenever needed. McKenna met with university representatives and administrators and asked them to return the money to maintain political independence. She urged Loyola to join with other universities fighting the embargo but has not heard any response from the university. So far, two Jesuit universities have received funds from USAID -- Loyola and Georgetown University. Sanchez noted that there are almost no national organizations independent of the government in Cuba; however, the Catholic Church has autonomy. Some have speculated that USAID may be trying to use Catholic institutions as a way to use the Church's autonomy to challenge the Cuban government. McKenna noted Bush issued a 400-page report with a section devoted to "using religion to facilitate the goals" of the country in regards to Cuba. Although the report does not explicitly outline using Catholic universities to further America's agenda with Cuba, she said it was surprising that USAID centered on Catholic schools.  

In a Catholic News service article, Agostino Bono said that U.S. Catholic institutions are "valuable links" for the United States because of their strong ties to the Cuban Catholic Church. In light of the criticism lobbied against Loyola, students on campus, such as members of Amnesty International, have begun researching the implications of accepting federal funding. Junior Felicia Trautman, president of Loyola's chapter of Amnesty International, has begun researching this issue. She has attempted to speak to individuals from the Center for Ethics, persons in Public Relations and Garanzini. Trautman has yet to hear from any of these people. "Our immediate goal for now is to simply schedule a public forum with Fr. Garanzini and the directors of this program where students and faculty can come and ask questions and decide for themselves," Trautman said. To begin this public dialogue, Amnesty International is hosting two speakers to discuss U.S. invovlement and the embargo: Mavis Anderson from the Latin American Working Group and David Jehnsen from the Institute for Human Rights and Responsibilities. The embargo that Hyde supports is one of many initiatives begun by the U.S. government. Sanchez said that most Cubans are aware of American involvement in Cuba. He also noted that the relationship between Cuba and the U.S. has deteriorated in the last two years. "The Cubans know what the U.S. intend[s] but they also know that it is not working," Sanchez said. "Since the early 1960s, the U.S. government has tried to bring down Castro's government from the failed Bay of Pigs Invasion in 1961 to assassination attempts, to sabotage, to the most recent efforts designed to exacerbate Cuba's economic crisis." A Feb. 13 Chicago Tribune article suggested Loyola's involvement with USAID could further tensions between America and Cuba. However, Sanchez noted that U.S. involvement in the island nation has had little effect. Regardless of the effectiveness of intervention, McKenna believes Loyola should maintain its independence from the U.S. government. "Like everything, it's not simple," McKenna said, "I think Loyola has a really proud tradition of being an advocate for social justice and change ... but the best thing [Loyola] could do is to [work] to better human rights [and] end the embargo." Amnesty's event on the current state of Cuba will be held tomorrow, Feb. 24 in Finnegan Auditorium at 4 p.m.