Southern Methodist University (SMU) in Dallas is going to house President Bush's $200+ million library. (Houston Chronicle) It's going to have a "public policy institute." Faculty, administrators, and staff are and have been protesting. One criticism is that the institute is going to be "affiliated" with the university but is not subject to academic governance. In other words, they're trading academic scholarship for partisan praise of Bush. Professor Susanne Johnson, associate professor of Christian education at SMU, said, "We all know very well that this institute — which has no lines of accountability to the faculty — is about getting some scholars lined up to put window dressing on the presidency of George Bush." And the nature of the "institute," they believe, will politicize SMU. Complainants suggested making the institute completely separate from SMU or, in the alternative, bringing it under the control of the university. Bush's foundation would agree to neither. (Inside Higher Ed)
There's another feature at his library that is right in line with Bush's presidency. Some of the material will be censored. Yup. Executive privilege. If you'll recall, in November 2001 Bush issued Executive Order 13233 which superseded the Presidential Records Act (PRA). It was drafted by then-White House counsel Alberto Gonzales and limits access to all former U.S. presidents' records (as well as extending executive privilege to the vice president.) The Order was criticized by the Society of American Archivists and the American Library Association. They claim it "violates both the spirit and the letter of existing U.S. law" and that it "potentially threatens to undermine one of the very foundations of our nation." Reverend William McElvaney, professor emeritus of preaching and worship at SMU's theology school, criticized the censorship issue: "What self-respecting university would accept a censored library?"
SMU has an agreement with the institute that allows for only one SMU representative to be on the institute's board, and that person will be chosen by the Bush foundation, allowing the foundation to pick an ideologue while preserving the semblance of academic rigor. And to top it all off, guess who's "advising" on "programming and positioning?" Why, Karl Rove, of course.
It's no wonder that professors are concerned. The integrity of the entire university is at stake. SMU has allowed itself to become a huge shill to make the unprecedented mistakes of Bush and his administration look good. SMU, hopefully, will be ashamed of itself.