A Discordant Chorus Questions Visions for a Bush Library at Southern Methodist
With growing faculty unease over plans to enshrine President Bush’s official papers and a policy institute at Southern Methodist University in Dallas, the process of creating the nation’s 13th presidential library is off to a familiar start: discord.
On Thursday, 68 theologians, professors and other faculty members present and past, citing complaints about President Bush’s “poor marks” on civil liberties, the environment, gay rights and the war in Iraq, sent the university president a letter questioning whether visions of the library were consistent with the school’s religious and academic values.
“According to George Bush’s closest associates, the half-billion-dollar endowment will be used by the institute to hire conservative scholars to agree to ‘write papers and books favorable to the president’s policies,’ ” said the letter calling for a campuswide dialogue on the affiliation.
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On Thursday, 68 theologians, professors and other faculty members present and past, citing complaints about President Bush’s “poor marks” on civil liberties, the environment, gay rights and the war in Iraq, sent the university president a letter questioning whether visions of the library were consistent with the school’s religious and academic values.
“According to George Bush’s closest associates, the half-billion-dollar endowment will be used by the institute to hire conservative scholars to agree to ‘write papers and books favorable to the president’s policies,’ ” said the letter calling for a campuswide dialogue on the affiliation.