SMU's Deal With Bush
Despite the concerns of many of its faculty members and historians nationwide, Southern Methodist University agreed to terms Friday for becoming the home of President Bush’s library and of an institute that will promote the president’s views and that will not be controlled by the university.
Presidential libraries — which are managed by the U.S. National Archives and Records Administration — have generally been considered a plum for a university to obtain. Scholars are attracted by the archives, and tourists and name recognition come with the affiliated museums. But the Bush library complex will also feature an institute — independent of academic governance of the university — to sponsor research and programs designed to promote the vision of the president. At the press briefing announcing the agreement, Donald Evans, who chairs the president’s foundation, said that the complex would “celebrate” the president and his tenure in office.
It’s that part of the plan — an institute that is at the university, but not run by standard academic procedures — that has angered many academics. The public policy programs at the University of Texas at Austin and Texas A&M University that are named for Presidents Johnson and Bush (I), whose libraries are also located there, are regular units of their respective universities. Scholars are judged by normal standards, deans are hired by university presidents, and there is no goal of offering a particular perspective on the respective presidents. Leaders of the president’s foundation, however, have said that they want to control the institute and that it will have a specific goal of promoting the president’s ideas and views.
Read entire article at Inside Higher Ed
Presidential libraries — which are managed by the U.S. National Archives and Records Administration — have generally been considered a plum for a university to obtain. Scholars are attracted by the archives, and tourists and name recognition come with the affiliated museums. But the Bush library complex will also feature an institute — independent of academic governance of the university — to sponsor research and programs designed to promote the vision of the president. At the press briefing announcing the agreement, Donald Evans, who chairs the president’s foundation, said that the complex would “celebrate” the president and his tenure in office.
It’s that part of the plan — an institute that is at the university, but not run by standard academic procedures — that has angered many academics. The public policy programs at the University of Texas at Austin and Texas A&M University that are named for Presidents Johnson and Bush (I), whose libraries are also located there, are regular units of their respective universities. Scholars are judged by normal standards, deans are hired by university presidents, and there is no goal of offering a particular perspective on the respective presidents. Leaders of the president’s foundation, however, have said that they want to control the institute and that it will have a specific goal of promoting the president’s ideas and views.