DALLAS (AP) – Texas A&M University has scrapped plans for a $200 million campus in the Israeli city of Nazareth and instead is launching a $6 million marine research center that’s expected to contribute to critical projects Israel is pursuing along the Mediterranean Sea.
The research center, which will open in February in collaboration with the University of Haifa, is a departure from plans announced in October 2013, when A&M System Chancellor John Sharp said a “peace university” was planned for Israel’s largest Arab city, Nazareth, that would bring Arabs and Jews together. The plans for an A&M branch were unveiled after consulting with then-Israeli President Shimon Peres, an advocate of coexistence between Israel’s Jewish majority and its Arab minority.
While Israel has restrictive laws that can prevent the opening of foreign branch campuses, Sharp told The Associated Press last week that A&M changed its plans because elected officials in Nazareth wanted to dictate the direction and aim of the campus.
“We’re not going to put our name on something we didn’t have total control over,” he said.
Plans for Haifa are consistent with the original intent of A&M two years ago, Sharp said.