Bush Library

[Water Pony]

SMU seeking approval of church for Bush library site

By ANGELA K. BROWN
Associated Press


DALLAS — Southern Methodist University plans to ask church leaders next week for approval to lease campus land for the George W. Bush presidential library, officials said Wednesday.

SMU will seek permission from a 23-member council of the South Central Jurisdiction of the United Methodist Church at a meeting in Dallas next week, said Stephen Drachler, a spokesman for the Oklahoma City-based jurisdiction. The council will vote that day after SMU’s presentation, he said.

The university needs permission because the parcel was part of the original campus when it was founded in 1911, Drachler said. He said he did not know the exact location or how many acres, referring those questions to SMU officials.

Brad Cheves, SMU’s vice president for external affairs and development, confirmed Wednesday that the university would seek the jurisdiction’s approval but declined to disclose specifics about the land. He said SMU and the site selection committee are still considering other locations that do not require church approval.

“We have not yet shared in the public square all of our site options, just because we don’t know what’s going to be chosen,” Cheves said.

One of the Methodist ministers sponsoring an online petition drive against the library at SMU, the Rev. Andrew Weaver, said Wednesday that he was trying to be placed on the agenda for next week’s meeting. The petition had more than 10,700 signatures as of Wednesday night.

“I’m sure the Methodist church wants to be fair and hear both sides of the issue,” Weaver said.

SMU became the apparent winner in the library competition in December when the site selection committee said it was entering into further talks with the 11,000-student private university, which is first lady Laura Bush’s alma mater. Bush has said he is leaning toward SMU.

A final decision is expected after Bush receives a recommendation from the committee, which started detailed discussions with SMU’s president last month.

But the process has not been without headaches for the administration and trustees.

Although many students seem to support the project, grumbling started among some professors late last year when they found out the library and museum complex would include an institute, or think tank, that would further the views of the Bush administration.

Later Wednesday, the faculty senate rejected — with a tie vote — a resolution calling for the institute to either be under SMU’s control or for the school to sever all ties to the think tank by not allowing it to use SMU’s name or be on campus.

Professors said the group almost unanimously passed a resolution, which will be presented to SMU President R. Gerald Turner, on concurrent appointments to SMU and the institute, which will be run by a separate, privately held foundation. The appointments and funding will be separate.

The group has had several votes about the library issue the past few months.

Last month, the faculty senate voted to ask the school to request that Bush rescind his order allowing former presidents to keep White House documents secret forever.

That action was part of the faculty group’s endorsement of a letter from SMU’s history professors opposing the executive order.

[Bergermeister]

SMU seeking approval of church for Bush library site
.

formality.

[expony18]

havent seen this posted yet... doesnt mean much, but still interesting

http://smu.edu/studentsenate/legislatio ... ibrary.pdf

[smupony94]

House OKs presidential library disclosure bill 1:41 PM CDT

01:41 PM CDT on Wednesday, March 14, 2007
By SUDEEP REDDY / The Dallas Morning News
[email protected]

WASHINGTON - Legislation to require disclosure of donations to presidential libraries cleared the House by a wide margin Wednesday.

The move could complicate President Bush’s plans to raise money for his library. Mr. Bush’s site-selection committee is in exclusive negotiations with Southern Methodist University in Dallas for a library, museum and policy institute.

Lawmakers who pushed the legislation noted that Mr. Bush’s library complex could cost as much as $500 million. President Clinton’s library in Little Rock, Ark., cost $165 million and President George H. W. Bush’s library at Texas A&M University in College Station had a tab of $80 million.

The presidents must raise that money themselves. Lawmakers from both parties have raised concerns over the years that foreign governments, corporations and individuals could quietly contribute unlimited sums to a president’s library - even while the president is still in office - in an attempt to influence his decisions.

The legislation, which passed 390-34, would require disclosure of contributions of $200 or more for at least four years after the president has left office.

“It will certainly help to prevent some real serious potential for abuse in the years ahead,” said Rep. John Duncan, R-Tenn., who introduced similar legislation in a previous session.

In a rebuke to the president, the House also approved legislation overturning Mr. Bush’s 2001 executive order that gave ex-presidents - and their heirs - greater authority to block release of their presidential papers.

That order required a sitting president to comply with an ex-president’s request to prevent the release of records from his term, unless the person seeking access to the documents could persuade a court otherwise.

The House legislation, which cleared 333-93, would restore the previous procedures, allowing a former president only to ask the sitting president to withhold records. It also would set time limits for reviewing records and provide the executive privilege only to current and former presidents, not their heirs. Exemptions for national security and privacy would remain.

“Historians and scholars need access to presidential records so that there’s an accurate record of a president’s term in office and not an alleged version based on what the president chooses to share,” said Rep. Henry Waxman, D-Calif, the lead sponsor of both bills that passed Wednesday.

Similar legislation on donor disclosure and presidential records passed the House in previous sessions under Republican leadership before stalling in the Senate.

Prospects in the upper chamber may be different this time as President Bush concludes his second term and makes plans for his library.

[Bergermeister]

SMU seeking approval of church for Bush library site

Approved.

[SMU Football Blog]

In Vodicka lawsuit news . . .

I mentioned before that Vodicka indicated he was going to file a Motion to Remand. He did it. SMU is opposing for obvious reasons and stated plainly that Vodicka has done nothing but forum shop for a year.

Also, Vodicka is trying to do complete discovery of the whole Bush Library proposal and SMU is opposing it.

[The PonyGrad]

Methodist Panel Backs Bush Library

DALLAS (AP) - A church council on Wednesday approved land on the campus of Southern Methodist University for George W. Bush's presidential library, complete with a partisan think tank.

The South Central Jurisdiction of the United Methodist Church voted 10-4 in favor of leasing the land, including 36 acres that now includes some dorms and a parking lot.

One council member, the Rev. Eddie Allsup of Lubbock, asked the school's president, R. Gerald Turner, whether the presidential complex had to include the private institute aimed at furthering Bush's views.

"It's a package deal," Turner said. "It's enormously valuable."

SMU President R. Gerald TurnerAnother member, Gil Hanke of Nacogdoches, asked whether SMU's accreditation would be hurt by its association with the partisan institute, which will be run by a private foundation. Turner said no.

The institute has drawn criticism from some faculty members. The project would also include a museum.

The alma mater of first lady Laura Bush became the apparent front-runner in the library competition in December, when a site selection committee said it was entering into further talks with the 11,000-student private school.

Bush has said he is leaning toward SMU. The site selection committee must now make a recommendation to the president. The committee's talks with SMU continue.

"We hope it's weeks rather than months," said Brad Cheves, SMU's vice president for external affairs and development.

The school's Board of Regents has already approved the project.

In his presentation to the church council, Turner said the library, museum and Bush institute may be built on one of two sites on the land. He said plans are not finalized, so "that's why we're not asking for one or the other (parcel)."

William McElvaney, a retired professor in SMU's Perkins School of Theology, had urged the church council to reject the request based on some faculty members' opposition to the Bush institute.

"The future of SMU's soul is at stake," McElvaney said.

The project will be financed through a private fund drive aimed at raising at least $200 million, and some estimate the cost could soar to $500 million.

If negotiations with SMU fail, the other remaining finalist is Baylor University in Waco, near the Bushes' Crawford ranch. The University of Dallas withdrew its bid in January.

[crazy horse]

Quote:
William McElvaney, a retired professor in SMU's Perkins School of Theology, had urged the church council to reject the request based on some faculty members' opposition to the Bush institute.

"The future of SMU's soul is at stake," McElvaney said.


So, SMU will go to hell if we get the Bush library!?

Alrighty then...


God Bless You William.

Enjoy your retirement!

[expony18]

Quote:
William McElvaney, a retired professor in SMU's Perkins School of Theology, had urged the church council to reject the request based on some faculty members' opposition to the Bush institute.

"The future of SMU's soul is at stake," McElvaney said.


So, SMU will go to hell if we get the Bush library!?

Alrighty then...


God Bless You William.

Enjoy your retirement!

so are you saying you're going to light my country music award on fire

[Bergermeister]

"The future of SMU's soul is at stake," McElvaney said.
.

Idiotic statement. He needs to ask himself: "WWULD?" / "What Would Umphrey Lee Do?"

[Kappas Are Yummy]

Quote:
William McElvaney, a retired professor in SMU's Perkins School of Theology, had urged the church council to reject the request based on some faculty members' opposition to the Bush institute.

"The future of SMU's soul is at stake," McElvaney said.


So, SMU will go to hell if we get the Bush library!?

Alrighty then...


God Bless You William.

Enjoy your retirement!

so are you saying you're going to light my country music award on fire

Good one rook. I just lost a buck...to myself.

[mathman]

"The future of SMU's soul is at stake," McElvaney said.




Good grief. What an idiot. Thank goodness this guy is retired.

[EastStang]

I have it on good authority that that [man] sold his soul to the devil!

A great line from "Oh Brother where art thou" which for some reason seemed appropriate at this moment in time.

Can we run McElvaney out on a rail?

[jtstang]

A university should avoid engagin ing partisan politics. The "policy institute" which will be on SMU's campus with no control by SMU is wholly partisan. To the extent people are concerned, not about the library, but the Dubya sunshine school, I think they are perfectly right to be. I think it is unfair for Dubya to make them a "package deal" but I guess it's his toy....

[EastStang]

You know these institutes have a way of evolving over time. 75 years from now, after we're all dead and gone, who knows what it will be like. I suspect it will look like any other academic institute. Handing out grants and issuing papers and funding research. But the long term view is that people will still come to SMU to do that research, and it will have a good air conditioning system when the ambient tempertures in Dallas are 157 degrees.