Bush Library: Exclusive Report

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By DAVID DILLON / The Dallas Morning News

In an aggressive bid to win the Bush presidential library, SMU envisions a complex of buildings that could include a high-tech museum and archives, a school of politics, a conference center and offices, all aimed at raising the school's national profile and making it a prime destination for scholars and tourists.

A spokesman for the National Archives in Washington confirmed that Southern Methodist University retained Hillier Architecture of Princeton, N.J., to prepare a conceptual master plan for the coveted project, tentatively plotted in the southeastern quadrant of the campus, bounded roughly by Airline Road, North Central Expressway and SMU Boulevard.

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"It is intended to extend the mission of the library into the entire university," said a supporter who has seen the plan SMU presented to the presidential site selection committee in November.

"It is not going to be a stand-alone building in a field."

That's an approach that differs from recent presidential libraries, which generally have been autonomous structures, detached from their surroundings.

In the hunt for the new Bush library, Texas Tech University wants to place it and companion buildings on 100 acres in Lubbock, where "space is ample and vehicle friendly." The other finalists, Baylor University in Waco and the University of Dallas, also have offered large swaths of land – although federal guidelines have no specific size requirement for the library and museum site.

For its part, SMU hopes to turn what its competitors see as a liability – its cramped urban setting – into an asset. SMU says it has plenty of space, that it is highly visible, adjacent to retail developments, a freeway, a light-rail line and crosstown street, with links to two major airports.

"SMU offers a proposal that continues to accentuate our high accessibility and the visibility associated with our academic programs," said Brad Cheves, the school's vice president for development and external affairs.

That's not a knock on the other finalists, he said, but there are "advantages that come with our location." SMU is "part of the fabric of Dallas. That's something that by definition cannot be replicated."

In the high-stakes competition, each of the universities is counting on a bonanza of benefits if picked: a publicity windfall used to help draw donations and top-flight faculty and staff; a permanent, historical collection of Bush papers and memorabilia for students, scholars and others; and a tourist attraction that could bolster nearby businesses and community development efforts.

SMU officials, as they have throughout the selection process, declined to discuss the their proposal in any detail, saying they would defer to the selection committee to release information.

The Bush project is expected to cost more than $200 million in privately raised funds to erect and endow.


University's ties

SMU has been viewed widely as the front-runner because of its many ties to President Bush and his wife, Laura, a SMU graduate and member of its board of trustees. SMU even touts on its Web site its connections to the Bush administration. Mrs. Bush has indicated the couple will divide their post-White House life between their ranch in Crawford and a home in Dallas.

The selection panel, led in part by former Commerce Secretary Don Evans, is expected to make a decision this year. It's possible Mr. Bush would want the library and archives at SMU but place other elements with one or more of the finalists.

SMU's strategy for getting the George W. Bush library has been in the works for more than two years. Among the highlights:

•The private university hired Hillier to do the preliminary plans. A multidisciplinary firm that had a Dallas office from 1995 to 2004, it has experience in campus planning. Among its SMU projects was the Collins Executive Education Center, affiliated with the Cox School of Business. Hillier referred all questions about the project to SMU.

The Collins center was designed in the collegiate Georgian style favored by SMU President Gerald Turner and previous school leaders. Although Dr. Turner would not give specifics, he has said the library would "become an integral part of the campus" and "fit in well with the rest of the university."

•Based on the conceptual plans described to The Dallas Morning News, SMU has considered breaking the Bush project into more than one building, akin to a campus within the campus, or academic village similar to other enclaves that dot the grounds there. On its Web site, Hillier posted its recent study, "Campus Space Crunch," on colleges trying to cope with growth in tight spaces.

•With the style of the proposed library apparently set, school officials have studied various campus sites for it. The university owns about a 22-acre pie-slice-shaped tract stretching from SMU Boulevard on the north to almost Mockingbird Lane on the south. It contains student housing, athletic fields and the University Gardens condos, part of a civil suit by a former resident who says SMU fraudulently ousted residents. The university has denied that.

SMU also owns the Park Cities Plaza shopping strip, the 6.6-acre former Mrs Baird's Bakery site across Mockingbird Lane at Central, plus an office tower and the former UA Cine on Yale Boulevard.

People familiar with SMU's proposal, speaking on the condition of anonymity, said the Baird property is far better suited for a small hotel, an office building or other revenue-generating uses than a library. They said the university has discussed these and other options but made no final decision.


Considering concept

In a conceptual master plan, architects often present clients with several options, pointing out the merits of each to arrive at the best possible solution. At this stage, the issue is as much the validity of the overall concept – the big idea – as it is the particular details, which can change dramatically from draft to draft.

With that in mind, pushing the Bush library south toward Mockingbird Lane would be a grand civic gesture, turning the complex into a symbolic invitation for the public to visit. Moving it east, onto portions of the University Gardens site, would raise its visibility along Central Expressway, with its tens of thousands of daily commuters. Going north and west would make connections to the rest of the campus easier and stronger.

SMU officials have bristled at rival schools' suggestions that it is too squeezed for the project. "The key question is: Is there enough land?" said university spokeswoman Patti LaSalle.

The answer is an emphatic "yes," according to SMU executives, who said they could offer plenty of acreage, in addition to visibility that the other finalists couldn't provide.

The National Archives and Records Administration says there is "no specific requirement for the amount of acreage for a presidential library. The size of the site may vary due to its location." The George Bush Library at Texas A&M University covers 90 acres and had 132,000 visitors last year. The newer Clinton library, on 30 acres in Little Rock, had nearly 450,000 visitors.

Mr. Cheves would not confirm plans to construct several buildings flanking the library but noted that the school has a strong record of collaboration among its departments, faculty and students.

He added that SMU's original proposal could change significantly at the behest of the committee or the Bush family. "It's open completely to input."


Academic institute

The committee guidelines asked the schools to include plans for an academic institute associated with the library. The Tech-led coalition proposed the George W. Bush Institute for Freedom and Democracy to focus on the study of terrorism and the spread of democracy.

SMU officials declined to identify this facet of their proposal. But minutes from a Faculty Senate Executive Committee meeting last year include discussion of plans for the Bush School of International Relations and Public Policy.

A faculty committee presented a draft at the meeting, noting that "to get the library, SMU needs to have a good proposal for a school to be associated with the library. It is likely that whether or not the library comes to SMU, we will develop graduate programs in political science, as there is a need for them in the metroplex."

Also, Dr. Turner said during a speech last year that a faculty committee was designing a new academic unit that would be associated with the library.

Mr. Cheves would not discuss the public policy institute, saying only that SMU is always looking for opportunities to grow and to better serve students and faculty.

Staff writers G. Robert Hillman in Washington and Colleen McCain Nelson in Dallas contributed to this report.