New travel regulations issued by the federal government have caused officials at several universities to call a halt to their study abroad programs in Cuba.
Though Penn does not maintain its own program site, interested students were able to apply to study abroad at Cuba's Universidad de La Habana through Butler University -- one institution that is currently suspending its program.
According to a statement on Butler's Institute for Study Abroad Web site, "The new educational travel regulations result in our no longer being able to operate our semester program .... This regrettable situation is one that none of us could have predicted, particularly on such short notice."
Two Penn students were set to study in Cuba this fall, according to Donna Butler, an overseas program manager at Penn's Office of International Programs who oversees travel to the Americas. Butler added that she is currently working with the two students to help them "figure out another option" for studying abroad in the fall or spring semester of this year.
Wharton senior Gabriel Mandujano, who studied in Cuba last year, said that he was disappointed to hear the program has been suspended.
Mandujano emphasized the importance of the democratic model as an example for Cuban students. "More than us learning from them, they learned from us, too," he said.
And while Cuba is one of the only countries entirely off-limits to Penn students, other parts of the globe also present a challenge to those who wish to study, according to Butler.
"In any location that has a State Department travel warning, we cannot encourage students to study there," Butler said. However, "a student, for academic reasons only, could petition to go to a specific location."
For now, though, interested students will have to scratch Cuba off their list of places to study.
"We can only hope that we will be able to resume the Cuba program in the near future, but this depends on future changes in regulations governing academic programs in Cuba," says a statement on IFSA Web site.
