"Part of it is the logistics of getting a program together by fall, and part of it is about being cautious," Kearl said. "Things have changed a lot in the Holy Land in the past 5 1/2 years. We need to relearn how to do this."

The program will expand if there is interest.

BYU sent home 174 students a month early from a semester at the center in 2000 after violence in Jerusalem's streets made it unsafe to remain in the area.

The students had been kept inside the center for more than a month before being sent home.

Kristy Bott, who was a BYU student in Jerusalem that semester, said even though she saw a bus explode and violence, she never worried about her own safety while in the Holy Land.

"There's always trouble over there, and I don't know if anyone would ever think it's a perfectly safe thing to be there (in Jerusalem), but I was never scared," she said. "When we were there, it got worse and worse, but I felt completely safe. I knew they (BYU professors and Jerusalem Center administrators) would take care of us. Maybe I was completely oblivious, but I was never scared. I was just so excited to be there." Student programs have remained suspended since Bott's group was flown back to the United States in November 2000.

It was the second time the program shut down since its opening in 1987. It was closed once before in 1991 during the Gulf War.

Despite the closure of the student program, the Jerusalem Center stayed open, hosting concerts, workshops, tours and visitors. Bott said she had no doubt students who applied to this year's program would be kept far from harm's way. "Honestly, as long as they follow the rules and only go to the places where they're supposed to go, they'll be fine," she said. "It's never going to be completely safe, but if they trust the faculty and people with them, they'll be kept safe. I think the more people who get to go and experience it, the better. I'm jealous. I want to go back."

BYU officials expect the announcement will create some excitement around campus. This summer is the first time applications have been accepted since 2001, when BYU stopped taking names for future enrollment at the center after the 9/11 attacks. "I just have to figure out a way of going without my girlfriend getting mad," said Jonah Barnes, a junior at BYU. "Of course it's not going to be as safe as the United States — nowhere is. But to experience the Holy Land, to really see the place you talk about so much in church—that would be awesome."

Application materials will be available June 16, and the Jerusalem Center's Provo office will begin taking applications June 26. They will be due July 7.

The future of the student program will depend on the political climate and events in the Middle East, Kearl said. If things go well, it is possible the program will again expand to its previous size.

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E-mail: alinford@desnews.com