wfn.org | University of Indianapolis to establish branch campus in Israel

[NewsDesk <NewsDesk@UMCOM.UMC.ORG>]

Aug. 8, 2000 News media contact: Linda Green·(615)742-5470·Nashville, Tenn.
10-71B{364}

By United Methodist News Service

United Methodist-related University of Indianapolis is joining with an
interfaith private school in Galilee to establish a branch campus and assist
the school in becoming the first Arab-Palestinian-Christian university in
Israel.

The Rev. Elias Chacour, 61, a Melkite Catholic priest and director of the
Mars Elias Educational Institute in Ibillin, Israel, visited the Indiana
university Aug. 2 to forge a partnership so that the school can become a
university.  Chacour founded the institute in 1981. It has grown from 80
students to well over 3000, in from kindergarten through high school, and
more recently college.  

By the fall of 2001, the nearly century-old United Methodist school will
offer four of its degree programs at the Mars Elias campus.  The university
has similar programs in the Mediterranean, especially in Greece and Cyprus. 

According to Jerry Israel, university president, Chacour chose the
University of Indianapolis for the venture because the schools have a
similar mission of interfaith respect and education for service. Chacour
received the World Methodist Peace Award in 1994.

 "The university's mission of education for service has a strong local
orientation here at home but also has an international dimension that we see
as possible throughout the world," Israel said.    

For a school of its size, the University of Indianapolis has one of the
highest percentages of international students in the state, Israel said.

Chacour has a goal to draw together students and faculty of many faiths,
including Jewish, Christian, Moslem and Druze, so that they may live, learn
and work towards a common future. He also is assistant to the bishop in
Haifa. 

Israel said the university has been engaged in a yearlong conversation with
Chacour and other Mars Elias representatives working out details of the
first curriculum and preparing to meet accreditation standards. A number of
university students will visit the Israeli school as part of the 2001 Spring
Break. 

"I am hopeful that as an accredited branch campus of the University of
Indianapolis, the Mars Educational Institute will be well on its way toward
becoming the first Arab-Palestinian-Christian university in Israel," Chacour
said.

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United Methodist News Service
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