December 21, 2004

Boise State Student Body President To Travel To Israel

David Morriss, president of the Associated Students of Boise State University, will travel to Israel over the upcoming holiday break as part of the University Student Body Presidents Seminar in Israel. Morriss’s trip, Dec. 26 through Jan. 3, is sponsored and funded by Project Interchange, a non-profit, non-political educational institute of the American Jewish Committee. Project Interchange seminars are designed to strengthen relations between the U.S. and Israel and promote mutually beneficial ties between influential Americans and Israelis. Nearly 3,500 student body presidents, state officials and Congressional delegates have experienced Israel through Project Interchange's “crash course” travel seminars since 1994.   “Now in its 11th year, this seminar speaks to the very core of Project Interchange’s mission of educating current and future American leaders about Israel and the importance of the U.S-Israel relationship,” said Dottie Bennett, the program’s national chair. The seminar will focus on Arab-Jewish coexistence, pluralism, the Middle East peace process, education and immigrant absorption. While in Israel, Morriss will meet Arab and Jewish student university leaders, Israeli government officials, Palestinians, Israeli-Arab community leaders, academic experts and journalists. Members of the group will receive in-depth briefings on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, Israeli politics and the U.S.-Israel relationship. The program will also include visits to Christian and Jewish holy sites in Jerusalem and the Galilee. Morriss will join a delegation of university presidents from Nebraska, Oklahoma, Montana, Iowa, Kansas, Minnesota, New Mexico, South Dakota, Utah and Washington. This will be the first visit to Israel for all members of the delegation. A senior majoring in accounting, Morriss is a 1992 graduate of Nampa Senior High School. He began his term as ASBSU president in April. -30- Contact: David Morriss, ASBSU President, (208) 426-1553                                                              Media Contact: Kathleen Craven, University Relations, (208) 426-3275, kcraven@boisestate.edu