Thursday, January 18, 2007

The site-selection committee for the George W. Bush presidential library and institute has narrowed its search to First Lady Laura Bush's alma mater, Southern Methodist University in Dallas, though the panel has not made a final decision.

Many SMU professors are wary and at a recent closed meeting declared that "our fundamental role as faculty is to ensure that the university holds to fundamental principles of academic freedom and that the best interests of the university are protected," according to memo summarizing the meeting.

The memo, from Faculty Senate President Rhonda Blair, outlined a series of questions many professors have for university president R. Gerald Turner about the library plans:

· What promises, if any, has SMU already made to the Bush Foundation about the library and institute?

· What guarantees will there be in writing regarding the relationship between SMU and the Presidential library and institute?

· Should SMU have some kind of oversight of the institute, or would that oversight identify us as being too closely associated with the institute?

· Have studies been done to determine the increased security risks attached to having the library and institute?

· Since universities with presidential libraries tend to be larger and/or more widely known than SMU, what will be the impact of the library and institute on SMU and its reputation?

· Could the library and particularly the institute simply be geographically near, but not be part of, SMU? Wouldn't SMU generally reap the same benefits from its presence?

· What would be the impact of the library and institute on SMU's ability to recruit students and faculty, especially in areas such as the Northeast, and what would be the impact on rankings and evaluations?

-- Matthew C. Wright