The other day my eyebrows shot up when I read that the US government had awarded a $750,000 contract to Creighton University School of Law in Nebraska, to study issues relating to seized property in Cuba. It seemed like the sort of thing that UM might have had an interest in and would be uniquely qualified for (and if not UM, then maybe FIU) — and it was the first I’d heard of it (although, since it has nothing to do with the work I do, that in itself isn’t so odd).
It may be that Creighton in fact has an expertise in expropriation, restoration, and Caribbean or Latin American property rules. Then again, it may be that there’s another explanation…According to the Washington Post, there’s A Grateful Student behind the contract award:
Tired of those whining letters from your alma mater, the ones telling you that only your $200 check will keep the endowment from falling below $20 billion?
Well, maybe Adolfo Franco, assistant administrator of the Agency for International Development for Latin America, might get a reprieve for a couple of years from Creighton University School of Law in Nebraska, his alma mater.
An AID panel of career folks has decided to give the law school, which has no expertise in Cuba policy, a $750,000 grant over two years to study what is to be done about the properties Cuban dictator Fidel Castro seized from Americans some 45 years ago. We’re told this was a highly competitive process.
Franco even went out to Omaha last week to hand over the award, reestablishing the long-standing Havana-Omaha linkage.
