Instead of seeing Mt. Timpanogos or Squaw Peak when they walk out on their dormitory patios this fall, approximately 150 BYU students will gaze upon the ancient city of Jerusalem.
The students will be housed in BYU's Center for Near Eastern Studies, a 125,000-square-foot complex completed last year. The center is built on Mount Scopus, near the Mount of Olives, on a five-acre tract of land leased from the Israeli government. Many of the classrooms at the center, and its auditorium and dormitories, have a striking view of Old Jerusalem."We literally have a piece of BYU there," said Ray Hillam, director of the David M. Kennedy Center for International and Area Studies.
Since the first 80 students moved into the building, located near Hebrew University, in March 1987, enrollment in the program nearly doubled to 150 in the fall of 1987 and to 160 in January 1988. The center's impact becomes more dramatic when comparing current enrollment with that of 1984, when enrollment dipped to 35 for a semester of study.
The coming school term marks the beginning of a yearly schedule in which students can choose either a four-month program in the fall, a six-month course in the winter or a two-month program in the summer.
William A. Evenson, who oversees the center from Provo as the associate academic vice president at BYU, expects the high enrollment for the Jerusalem program to continue.
"The response from the students has been positive," Evenson said. "The students now have a beautiful place to live. For the university, the center provides a significant advantage in terms of what we can provide the students and our faculty."
Tuition and room and board at the center cost about the same as they do for a student attending BYU in Provo. However, the Jerusalem-bound students also must pay for their air fare and for the cost of field trips to various parts of the Holy Land, Evenson said.
The center's course of study is divided equally between biblical and Near Eastern studies. From the center's patios and windows, students can see such biblical sites as the Mount of Olives, Kidron Valley, and Mount Moriah, site of Solomon's and Herod's temples, said Robert Taylor, assistant to the BYU president for the Jerusalem Center, and BYU director of Travel Study.
Taylor, who has been involved with the BYU Study Abroad program since its beginning, said instructors take the students on field trips to places where important biblical events took place. These field trips, he said, make the scriptures live for the students.
The students also become an integral part of the Jerusalem Branch that meets in the center. They become involved in the branch much as they would in a student ward at BYU, Taylor said.
BYU officials hope students will return from the Holy Land with an expanded understanding of its people, cultures, history, languages and geography and a stronger testimony of the gospel.
BYU Pres. Jeffrey R. Holland said, "I hope [the center's] greatest impact is on the spirituality of our students who go there. I also hope they bring back the experiences they have and the spirituality they've gained to this campus [in Provo] and influence students here."
He said the Jerusalem facility can accommodate upward to 200 students and faculty for any given semester, with some students going for a semester and others for shorter terms.
"I can't help but think that kind of movement between Jerusalem and Provo will have a wonderful impact on our spirituality, and our devotion to the Lord, to the world, and to the Old and New Testaments," Pres. Holland said.
Hillam said the Jerusalem center may inspire students to also want to learn more about the Near East. Already, partly as a result of the Jerusalem program, BYU students have returned to that area of the world to pursue careers in the foreign service, business and education.
"It's really a break for us to develop a Near Eastern studies program and also to stimulate student interest in that part of the world," Hillam said. "We're also finding our roots - our theological heritage. That's why Jerusalem, of all the study abroad programs, is the most popular."
BYU's study abroad program began in the late 1960s with groups of students traveling to Vienna, Austria; London, England; and Jerusalem to study subjects relating to the countries they visited. In Jerusalem, the school faced unique challenges each year in finding space to rent for classes and housing.
In 1984, BYU broke ground on a site that Pres. Holland called "one of the premier locations" in the Holy Land. During the three years it took to construct the center, the school ran into opposition from orthodox religious groups fearing the Church would use the center for proselyting. But by providing guarantees that the center would not be used for missionary activities, BYU continued to receive support from the Israeli government and finished the project.
"We don't have any ulterior motives," Pres. Holland said. "We are a legitimate academic, educational institution with students who are eager to learn around the world."
On May 18, President Howard W. Hunter and Elder James E. Faust, both of the Council of the Twelve, representing BYU's board of trustees, and Pres. Holland signed a renewable 49-year lease for the BYU Jerusalem Center. The signing took place in the office of Yehuda Ziv, district officer of the Jerusalem Lands Authority.
Pres. Holland said this past year, especially since the signing of the lease, has been "calm, pleasant" with support from the government and the people of the Holy Land. "BYU students have as much freedom to come and go as anybody in that county," he said.
Since the center opened, its programs have expanded from general education for Near Eastern and religious studies to providing internships for nursing, health and nutrition and business students.
"Our nurses have done a good job," said Kent Jackson, chairman of the Near Eastern studies program. "There's a need in the community for health service professionals."
The first group of business interns just returned this month.
Additional programs in Hebrew and Arabic studies are planned for the future, Jackson said.
"The center will continue to be a boon for us in our academic efforts," Hillam said. "It will make us academically stronger."
"We've been in Jerusalem 20 years," added Pres. Holland. "And I hope we're there for many years to come."