In 2013, the former members of Global Brigades attended a board meeting to discuss whether the club would be eligible to become a travel course.
Founded in 2010, Global Brigades is a student-led organization whose main focus is on global health and sustainable development in Honduras, Ghana, Nicaragua and Panama, according to globalbrigades.org. There are multiple university chapters all over the world.
The International Programs Faculty Committee decided they weren’t eligible. Carina Dominguez, a senior public health major and former president of Global Brigades, says she was warned by IPO that her graduation and the other senior brigaders’ graduation would be in jeopardy if they continued the organization. Marca Bear, Associate Dean of the International Programs Office, stated that IPO has no knowledge of this claim.
“We were placed on this planet to help one another; declining our invitation to do this is unreasonable and disrespectful. Then going a step beyond and placing our graduation on the line is absurd,” said Samantha Robinson, a senior, marine science and biology major and former member of Global Brigades. “How would it look to prospective job employers if my resume said the University of Tampa did not let me graduate?”
In the meeting, the public health brigaders told stories about their time in a village called El Canton. They built seven different sustainable projects in the homes of the villagers such as water pilas (water storage unit), showers, eco stoves and latrines. They also taught children about their digestive health.
Even though they felt successful in their efforts, IPO was still concerned about the safety and legitimacy of the program, which is why they suggested Global Brigades become a travel course instead.
“At the time the Global Brigades program was proposed, it did not meet university criteria for being a responsibly managed program and could have potentially put students at unnecessary risk of health and/or safety threats,” Bear said.
“There is a U.S. Department of State travel warning for Honduras. For the safety and security of UT students, faculty and staff, it is UT policy to not allow travel to any location on the U.S. Department of State travel warning or travel alert list,” Bear said.
The Global Brigades adviser who was assigned to their chapter provided them with everything they needed in order to have a successful trip, including an insurance policy, health plan and an empowered.org account to keep track of donations, according to Dominguez. For the duration of the brigaders’ trip, they had soldiers and two travel guides with them.
“We had soldiers with us at all times; there was not a doubt in my mind that if something happened I would not be protected,” Robinson said.
Dominguez wanted to create a chapter that didn’t have any affiliation with the university. She wanted to hold meetings off campus and become the Tampa Bay Public Health Global Brigade chapter.
“I made the decision myself to not go about doing it because I didn’t want to disrespect anyone’s say. I also wouldn’t want to put other brigaders in that situation,” Dominguez said.