Colleges End Study-in-Spain Program

The trustees of the South Orange County Community College District have ended their schools’ summer study-abroad program in Spain, saying the country is dangerous and citing its withdrawal of troops from Iraq.

The district, comprising Irvine Valley College and Saddleback College, voted 5-2 last week to cancel the 14-year-old program.

“Spain has abandoned our fighting men and women, withdrawing their support,” said trustee Tom Fuentes, who spearheaded the move to cancel the trips. “I see no reason to send students of our colleges to Spain at this moment in history.”

Fuentes, former head of the Republican Party in Orange County, said he also had concerns about student safety because of the March 11, 2004, train bombings in Madrid that killed 191 people and sporadic bombings by Basque separatists. When asked why students were allowed to go to Spain just three months after the Madrid bombings, Fuentes replied, “I think the terrorist situation is all the more prevalent and obvious today.”

Professor Carmenmara Hernandez-Bravo, who runs the study-abroad program, said she was stunned by the board’s decision. “I’m still in shock,” she said. “I cannot believe a community college can put this much politics into academics.”

Faculty at both colleges have for years been at odds with the school board and administration over such issues as the selection of administrators and free-speech issues. The district serves 35,000 students.

Currently, 18 Saddleback College students are spending their spring semester in Salamanca, Spain, Hernandez-Bravo said. She added that she didn’t think they would be asked to return early.

In deciding against sending students to Spain, board members also cited high program costs and potential liability to the school district.

“I think it’s an affront to the working-student community who often utilizes the junior college system to propose a program of five weeks of study that is nearly $5,000,” Fuentes said in a telephone interview Saturday.

The cost of the 37-day trip to Santander, Spain, is about $4,400 including meals, housing, transportation, books and airfare, Hernandez-Bravo said. But while rejecting the $119-per-day Spain trip, she said, the board approved a 14-day trip to Florence, Italy, costing $204 per day without airfare and some meals.

Hernandez-Bravo, a Spanish-language teacher and chairwoman of the foreign-language department at Saddleback College, said she hoped the board would reconsider approving the Spain trips.

Hernandez-Bravo said she planned to send videotapes of the board meeting -- including Fuentes’ statements on Spain -- to the Spanish Consulate in Los Angeles, the U.S. ambassador in Spain and the Spanish ambassador in Washington in the hopes they would write letters to the trustees reassuring them of the country’s safety.

Marcia Milchiker, one of two trustees who voted in favor of keeping the program, said she was puzzled by the majority’s reasoning.

“Obviously the bombing in Madrid was before last summer’s trip,” she said. “No one stopped them, and so bringing this up now is strange. I’m hoping we can bring it back at our next board meeting.”