Spring Break
Loyola takes heat for grant acceptance
Whitney Woodward
Issue date: 2/23/05 Section: News
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.
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.