At Last, SMU Announces Bush Library Deal
Andrew Albanese -- Library Journal, 2/27/2008
• 2016 target date• $500M fundraising campaign
• Some faculty dismay
At long last, the George W. Bush Presidential Library Foundation has announced what has been expected for well over a year—that Southern Methodist University (SMU), in Dallas, will be home to the George W. Bush Presidential Center, consisting of a library, museum, and an independent policy institute. The deal was unanimously approved February 22 by the SMU Board of Trustees. The deal comes after lengthy negotiations: back on December 22, 2006, the Bush Library Site Selection Committee announced that SMU was the lone finalist. Construction is tentatively scheduled to be completed by 2016. The library and museum will be operated by the National Archives and Records Administration (NARA). The $500 million fundraising campaign is the largest in history.
Plans call for the library to "contain documents and artifacts of the Bush Administration;" a museum with "permanent and traveling exhibits;" and the "independent" public policy institute, whose mission remains somewhat hazy-and of concern to critics. Susanne Johnson, a theology professor, told the Dallas Morning News that a policy institute does not belong on SMU's campus. "It's going to create an ethos where the students who are more progressive in terms of religion and politics will feel even further silenced." Dennis Foster, president-elect of the faculty senate, however, said the agreement was "something professors can work with."
