Will Unannounced $35M Gift Give SMU Advantage in Gaining Bush Library?

-- Library Journal, 8/23/2006

More intrigue surfaced last week in the race to land the George W. Bush presidential library after it was disclosed that Southern Methodist University (SMU) in Dallas, long considered a front-runner, had received a $35 million gift from Dallas businessman Ray Hunt. The gift, according to the Dallas Morning News, was used to purchase a shopping center that could become the library site. The extraordinary gift was made last fall, but curiously remains unannounced by university officials, who told reporters details of the gift have not been finalized.

The news, however, became public last week in court records filed in a case brought by Gary Vodicka, a resident who filed suit last year alleging that SMU forced residents out of a condominium complex to make way for the library. Meanwhile, First Lady Laura Bush said this week that a decision on the library was unlikely before 2007. SMU, the First Lady's alma mater, is one of three finalists for the Bush library, along with Baylor University in Waco and the University of Dallas.