CHARLESTON, South Carolina (AP) -- Improved relations between the
                  United States and Cuba have opened the door to a summer of study in
                  Havana for College of Charleston students.

                  The college has received permission from the U.S. Treasury Department to
                  conduct a Summer in Cuba Program at the Institute of Philosophy, said Jack
                  Parson, the college's director of International Education.

                  Twenty students will take courses on Cuba's culture, politics and economy
                  and study Spanish from May 19 to June 15.

                  "Five years ago, this program might not have been possible, but it is an idea
                  whose time has come," Parson said.

                  The school's program will differ from partnerships other American colleges
                  have with the University of Havana, said Doug Friedman, director of the
                  college's Latin American and Caribbean Studies Program.

                  Friedman and Jose Escobar, the college's associate professor of Hispanic
                  Studies, will teach the courses.

                  "This is going to be like the College of Charleston in Cuba," said Friedman,
                  the program's director and an immigrant from Cuba.

                  Cubans want Americans to see their country "so a lot of the
                  misunderstanding of what Cuba is like can be dealt with," Friedman said.
                  "They have had an enormous amount of success. They feel these contacts
                  are important for them to break down that barrier between the United States
                  and Cuba."

                    Copyright 1999 The Associated Press.