BY FRANCES ROBLES

Outrage over a plaque awarded to an aging exile militant at a University of Miami academic center has triggered protests from professors and accusations that the school's Cuba institute favors hard-line politics.

A local historical group recently used a hall at UM's Institute for Cuban and Cuban American Studies for an event commemorating 50 years of armed struggle in Cuba. The program culminated with the awarding of a plaque to Orlando Bosch.

A hero in the eyes of some in the Cuban community, Bosch, 84, was convicted of blasting a Bazooka off the MacArthur Causeway at a Polish freighter and was acquitted of a Cuban airline bombing that killed 73 people.

Academics from around the country -- and now also professors at UM -- have criticized the Oct. 12 event organized by the Institute of Cuban Historic Memory against Totalitarianism.

"I think universities are places to think the unthinkable and speak the unspeakable,'' said University of Denver lecturer Arturo López-Levy, one of 70 academics who signed an Oct. 27 letter of protest to UM President Donna Shalala. The academics asked for an investigation. "But to pay homage to a convicted terrorist, whoever authorized renting the place for that use has shown a lack of wisdom and a lack of judgment.''

Despite repeated requests, UM's administration refused to discuss the matter except to say it simply provided a venue for a community group.

Shalala has not responded to the protest letter -- even as professors from UM's Center for Latin American Studies circulated their own letter Wednesday saying it "had absolutely nothing to do with this event and firmly opposes holding such events and any other activity glorifying, condoning, or praising inhumane acts or violations of human rights.''

By Thursday, the letter had spread throughout the faculty, professors at UM said.

"It is important for us to send this letter [because] people in the academic community sometimes may get confused about the different centers at UM,'' Center for Latin American Studies Director Ariel Armony said in an interview.

The flap underscores a perception that has long dogged UM's Cuba institute, known as ICCAS: that its research, events and guests reflect a hard-line view of U.S.-Cuba policy. As the institute trims its staff and struggles to recover from the loss of federal funding, one of the university's most high-profile centers finds itself on the defensive.

In a statement, ICCAS Director Jaime Suchlicki said the institute often rents out its cultural center and, in this case, did not know Bosch would be in attendance at the panel discussion organized and sponsored by the historical group.

The event announcement citing Bosch as a special guest was published in El Nuevo Herald's calendar listing seven times.

Entering its second decade, ICCAS publishes reports and fact sheets about the island. While funded by a grant by the U.S. Agency for International Development, it produced papers about Cuba's transition to democracy, which led to criticism that the institute was a mouthpiece for Bush-era policies.

The grant expired and several staffers were laid off last year.

"They do have a perception of having a political agenda. I do not believe there is an agenda, but there is a perception,'' said Carlos Saladrigas, who chaired ICCAS' advisory board until earlier this year. ``They put out good work. You could accuse them of lacking balance, but you could say that of almost any academic institution.''

Much of the criticism is focused on Suchlicki, who makes no secret of his strong defense of the U.S. trade embargo against Cuba. Experts say it's not uncommon for academic centers to take on the point of view of their directors.

"They have an interest in a certain policy outcome,'' said Anya Landau French, director of the U.S.-Cuba Policy Initiative at the New America Foundation. ``What the public sees is that they have an agenda. I have been disappointed with the quality of some of the research I have seen.''

Landau French, who supports lifting the travel ban to Cuba, often blogs about ICCAS reports, pointing out what she considers inaccuracies or mis-characterizations.

Not all ICCAS scholars share the same point of view: Oil expert Jorge Piñón and senior fellow Andy Gomez participated in a Brookings Institution report that advocated improving U.S.-Cuba relations. Piñón recently left ICCAS for Florida International University.

Among others associated with the institute are former U.S. Secretary of Commerce Carlos Gutiérrez and former CIA Cuba analyst Brian Latell.

"Cuban studies is not immune to the politicization that permeates the Cuba issue,'' said SUNY Purchase provost Damián Fernández, who ran Florida International University's Cuban Research Institute for five years.

"ICCAS' success has rested in having a clearly articulated research agenda. They are clear in their voice. There's no such thing as being completely objective.''

As for an event featuring Bosch, Fernández said he would ``not have been comfortable'' with it.

Bosch was convicted in 1972 of a 1968 attack on a Polish freighter. While out on parole, he fled. He was later jailed but acquitted in Venezuela for a 1976 Cubana de Aviación bombing.

After his release, he returned to the U.S. Calling him ``a terrorist, unfettered by laws or human decency, threatening and inflicting violence without regard to the identity of his victims,'' the Justice Department wanted him deported in the early '90s, but he was released after the first Bush administration overruled the recommendation.

As for the Institute of Cuban Historic Memory against Totalitarianism, it sought to narrate the history of the armed struggle in Cuba and did nothing wrong, said Ramiro Gómez, who organized the panel discussion. He said his group has held about 20 events at ICCAS' Casa Bacardí cultural center, free of charge.

"The activity was not for Orlando Bosch; it was for everyone who confronted tyranny using arms, with the idea of a free Cuba in their heart,'' he said. ``This international scandal was created, because we chose to honor Orlando Bosch, the patriot.''