Baylor Says Its Values 'Nice Fit' with Bush's

[MrMustang1965]

By COLLEEN McCAIN NELSON / The Dallas Morning News

In the Bush presidential library sweepstakes, Baylor University has plenty to offer, including lots of land and a belief system consistent with George W. Bush's, the school's president said Monday.

"We think Baylor is a very nice fit with the president's values," Dr. John Lilley said.

Whether the Baptist university's culture, its interstate access or its site along the Brazos River will sway Mr. Bush or his library selection committee is still unknown. Dr. Lilley, who was inaugurated as Baylor's president last month, said he has received no indication which of the three library finalists has the edge or when a decision could be announced.

"The rumor-mongering that goes on about this is quite amazing," Dr. Lilley said. "We just simply don't know."

On Monday, selection committee spokesman Taylor Griffin would say only that the library group "is still considering the proposals."

Baylor and two other finalists, Southern Methodist University and the University of Dallas, have been in a holding pattern for several months, fielding queries about their plans and cautiously touting their strengths while dancing around questions about their competitors' weaknesses.

SMU, which counts Laura Bush and several White House officials among its alumni, has long been considered the front-runner. Baylor officials have even joked that if the first lady were partial to building the library at SMU, the president might grant her wish.

Meeting with The Dallas Morning News' editorial board, Dr. Lilley emphasized that those were light-hearted remarks about Mrs. Bush, saying, "whether she will choose to be involved that way ... none of us knows."

"Baylor has friends in the White House," Dr. Lilley added.

While Baylor's president avoided direct comparisons with his competitors, he mentioned the 109 acres the school owns along the Brazos River as a strong selling point. SMU officials have said they have plenty of land, but its urban site would be significantly smaller.

"I'm sure SMU has some positives that we don't have," Dr. Lilley said.

Baylor has fended off suggestions that Waco would be a less-than-inspiring location. A column in The Economist, a British newspaper, recently described Waco as a "dreary town."

But Dr. Lilley cited the Central Texas city's proximity to the high-traffic Interstate 35, the school's scenic campus and new developments planned in Waco. "It has many of the qualities that could make it into a boomtown," he said.

The price tag for the Bush library remains in flux, but estimates suggest that more than $200 million will be needed for the project. Dr. Lilley said that won't be a problem.

"We'll raise whatever is required," he said.

[NavyCrimson]

so is smooo which is moderate to liberal as well

[jtstang]

By COLLEEN McCAIN NELSON / The Dallas Morning News

In the Bush presidential library sweepstakes, Baylor University has plenty to offer, including lots of land and a belief system consistent with George W. Bush's, the school's president said Monday.

"We think Baylor is a very nice fit with the president's values," Dr. John Lilley said.

So Baylor is in also in favor of attacking countries half a world away on the alleged premise of actually non-existent WMDs. Always knew I didn't trust those Baptists...

[jtstang]

Baylor and two other finalists, Southern Methodist University and the University of Dallas, have been in a holding pattern for several months, fielding queries about their plans and cautiously touting their strengths while dancing around questions about their competitors' weaknesses.

Bush should reject Baylor for no other reason than, according to the article, they have been dancing, which is against their religion.

[NavyCrimson]

get a life jstang -

[smupony94]

Baylor and two other finalists, Southern Methodist University and the University of Dallas, have been in a holding pattern for several months, fielding queries about their plans and cautiously touting their strengths while dancing around questions about their competitors' weaknesses.

Bush should reject Baylor for no other reason than, according to the article, they have been dancing, which is against their religion.

Pretty damn funny and clever to me

[EastStang]

Laura couldn't smoke and cuss at their own library if they picked Baylor.

[oakley]

does laura like to smoke and drink and cuss?

[Kappas Are Yummy]

She's a Marley fan. You fill in the blanks.

[CalallenStang]

Here's that Economist column mentioned in the article, courtesy of the Halifax ChronicleHerald.

Dude, where’s your library?

By The Economist

In College Station, Tex., a quarter of a mile up Barbara Bush Drive on the outskirts of Texas A&M University, a huge concrete edifice replete with American flags announces the George Bush Presidential Library and Museum.

Inside, as patriotic music softly plays, starry-eyed visitors revel in the bric-a-brac of the 41st president: his fishing rod and Yale baseball mitt; Barbara’s designer gowns; a model of the sub that plucked Lieut. Bush from the ocean after he was shot down in 1944; and much else besides.

There is lavish praise for everything that George Bush senior did, and even some kindly words for his hapless vice-president, Dan Quayle.

Presidential libraries are good at puffing up reputations, and this is something that George Bush junior badly needs right now.

A decision on where his library will find a resting place is expected any day soon. Texas is abuzz with speculation.

Southern Methodist University (SMU) in Dallas is seen as the front-runner. Also in with a chance are Baylor University, in the dreary town of Waco, and the University of Dallas.

Two other Texas universities were eliminated last month. SMU, set in an elegant, tree-lined district of Dallas, has solid White House connections. Laura Bush, later a librarian, was Class of ’68, and she still sits on the university’s board of trustees. The Bushes are also members of a nearby church.

Other eminent alumni include Harriet Miers, the White House counsel once nominated for the Supreme Court, and Karen Hughes, the under-secretary of state in charge of the president’s international image.

But SMU is battling a lawsuit that could be related to where the library goes. Two condominium owners are suing the university for trying to force residents out by declaring the condos obsolete.

"The library is coming right here," says Gary Vodicka, one of the litigants, as he wanders around the mostly-deserted residences.

A spokesman for SMU, which has not yet disclosed exactly where it wants to put the library, insists that the lawsuit has nothing to do with the library proposal.

The lucky campus that eventually becomes host to Bush’s legacy will be hoping for a windfall. The model is Bill Clinton’s library in Little Rock, Ark., which opened in November 2004. Despite being ridiculed for "trailer-home chic" architecture, the library saw attendance in its first year soar to more than 500,000 — well above the projected 300,000 annual visitors.

Put another way, that is nearly three times the population of Little Rock. Skip Rutherford, head of the Clinton Library Foundation, gives credit to the site; the library is visible from Interstate 30, and an easy drive from Memphis.

Built in a warehouse district for $165 million, it has paid off handsomely, already bringing $1.2 billion in economic development to the city.

The Bush library may cost more. There are reports that a bid led by Texas Tech (one of the universities to be eliminated) promised to raise $500 million for the project, though $200 million-300 million seems more realistic. Rutherford advises Bush’s would-be hosts to "do whatever it takes to get it."

The Dallas press is gleeful at the prospect of a George W. library. In a column last month, Steve Blow of the Dallas Morning News reckoned that the exhibits would include The Frat Boy Years, The Failed Business Years, The Figurehead Baseball Job, Cool, I’m Governor! and Holy Crap, I’m President!!

As for the archives — a mainstay of every presidential library — he predicts that just about everything will be classified.

http://72.14.203.104/search?q=cache:DRi ... =clnk&cd=2

[EastStang]

Heck Baylor and the Texas Baptists split off from the Southern Baptist Convention because the Southern Baptists were too conservative. Nice values there Baylor.

[BUTitan]

Heck Baylor and the Texas Baptists split off from the Southern Baptist Convention because the Southern Baptists were too conservative. Nice values there Baylor.

That's not true, my church in Waco is a member of the Southern Baptist Convention.

[smu diamond m]

He's saying Baylor is no longer affiliated with the SBC, not "all baps in texas are non-SBC"

[EastStang]

The Texas Baptists and Baylor (which is affiliated with the Texas Baptists) dropped out of the Southern Baptist Convention. Baptists are congregationalist in their structure so membership in any association is purely voluntary, so there are some Texas Baptist churches that have remained in the Texas Baptist association and remained members of the Southern Baptist Convention, as well. When different denominational entities get into a food fight, the churches sometimes leave both, stay with both, or pick one of the fighters.

[BUTitan]

Ah ok, I see.