Bush library plans stir university debate

HOUSTON — With growing faculty unease over plans to enshrine President Bush's official papers and a policy institute at Southern Methodist University in Dallas, creating the nation's 13th presidential library is off to a familiar start: discord.

On Thursday, 68 theologians, professors and other faculty present and past, citing complaints about Bush's "poor marks" on civil liberties, the environment, gay rights and the war in Iraq, sent the university president a letter questioning whether visions of the library were consistent with the school's religious and academic values.

"According to George Bush's closest associates, the half-billion-dollar endowment will be used by the institute to hire conservative scholars to agree to 'write papers and books favorable to the president's policies,' " said the letter calling for a campus discussion on the affiliation.

Starting with Franklin Roosevelt, presidents have handed over their records and memorabilia for scholars and the public to study and to memorialize their administrations.

But the privately erected libraries, study centers and museums have been bedeviled by complex disputes over executive orders governing access to the material. Bush issued an order in November 2001 that, in part, granted a former president the right to assert a privilege to keep certain records secret.

The library of the president's father is on the Texas A&M University campus in College Station.

His legacy and SMU's role in preserving and advancing it are dividing the 11,000-student, private university long identified with the Bushes, former residents of Dallas, who are Methodists.

Laura Bush graduated from SMU and sits on the board of trustees. Vice President Dick Cheney previously served on the board. Presidential adviser Karen Hughes and former White House counsel Harriet Miers are graduates.

White House spokeswoman Dana Perino declined to comment.

A site-selection committee said Dec. 21 that it was pursuing exclusive discussions with SMU for a library and museum, and a policy institute reporting not to the university but to a Bush foundation.

SMU officials said the project is unlikely to be derailed by the faculty opposition and said the professors opposed to it are in the minority.

No final decision

The final determination on a site is expected in a few months. The other finalists are Baylor University in Waco, near the Bushes' Crawford ranch, and the University of Dallas.

At a meeting Tuesday, nearly 150 SMU faculty members raised concerns about the project and formulated what became 35 questions for the university president, R. Gerald Turner, on the relationship between the university and the Bush library and policy center.

The questions included, "How would the institute affect the intellectual integrity of SMU?"

Some faculty members voiced concerns that the policy center and the university could merge roles, giving administration figures such as Karl Rove an academic forum.

Others said security was an issue, a theme the community has aired in letters to the editor and blogs.

In an e-mail message in December to Mayor Laura Miller, of Dallas, Sam Boyd, a longtime neighbor of SMU, a trial lawyer and a former Green Beret in Vietnam, wrote: "Once completed the $500 million George Bush Library will become the number one ... US edifice terrorist target in the world."

A woman in Garland, Deborah Lewis, wrote The Fort Worth Star-Telegram that Dallas was already infamous for the assassination of President Kennedy and "now it probably will be known for honoring the worst president ever."

Turner will address the faculty letter in an open spring faculty meeting Wednesday, said Brad Cheves, vice president for development and external affairs.

"It's a call to dialogue," said Cheves, noting that the signatories numbered less than 10 percent of the 609 active faculty members and 137 retired members.

"We continue to believe that a strong majority of the university community is supportive of efforts to receive the museum, library and institute if we're so fortunate to be selected," he said.

Institute focus

The faculty letter cited an article in the New York Daily News quoting associates of the president calling for an institute to "spread the gospel of a presidency that now gets poor marks."

The letter continued:

"The 'poor marks' come from those Americans who question the wisdom of certain attitudes and actions of President Bush during his term in office. Among things they've so named: erosion of habeas corpus, denial of global warming, disrespect of international treaties, alienation of longtime U.S. allies, environmental predation, disregard for the rights of gay persons, a pre-emptive war based on false premises, and other perceived forms of disrespect for the created order and global community."

Other faculty members said they would welcome the library.

"This takes us to a whole new level," said Rita Kirk, a politics professor.

As for the students, Luis Arango, 21, a political-science major, said Friday: "This school has a very conservative vibe, and most of the students like Bush. The only people who don't seem to be the faculty. I know for a fact that some are real liberal and I don't think should be teaching here."

Material from The Associated Press is included in this report.