Even the Methodists don't want anything to do with him . . . .
Texas university faculty objects to Bush library
Southern Methodist professors, clergy fear the university will be
tainted by link to neo- conservative thinking and Iraq war
Agence France- Presse
DALLAS — Plans to establish a presidential library and thinktank for George W. Bush at his wife’s alma mater in Texas have come under fire from both faculty and the clergy associated with Southern Methodist University.
A vocal group of professors, concerned about how an institute billed to be “ inspired by the principles of George W. Bush’s administration” might affect the university’s reputation, have been working to block the library.
The faculty senate passed a resolution this week asking that the institute clearly states its “ independence and separation from SMU” and that it welcomes fellows with bipartisan views.
“ I’m concerned that we’re going to be judged by the things this institute does,” said history Prof. Benjamin Johnson.
“ These guys are so divisive, so unpopular, it seems to me really dangerous to go for an arrangement that could turn the face of your university over to them without any controls over them.”
The library and institute retain the support of a large part of SMU’s faculty and administration, who think it will raise the university’s profile and dismiss concerns that the institute will be packed with Bush cronies who will promote the rationale for war and other policies that the administration has fostered.
“ I think people are projecting their worst fantasies on to the institute. They think it’s going to be some sort of fringe, radical group,” said Matthew Wilson, a professor of political science at SMU.
The institute’s fellows will not be teaching classes or granted the status of faculty members, Wilson said, and the library will foster intellectual debate by attracting hundreds of thousands of visitors and over 1,000 scholars every year.
Wilson said it’s wrong to see the library as a temple to Bush’s policies. “ It’s about history rather than politics and that’s something people have to keep in mind,” he said.
But 15 current and retired bishops who launched an online petition saying that the “ linking of his presidency with a university bearing the Methodist name is utterly inappropriate” disagree.
The bishops are critical of the war in Iraq and the administration’s treatment of enemy combatants. The petition currently has over 10,000 signatures.
“ I am hesitant to see Southern Methodist University welcoming the institute of a Methodist who has been so contrary to the teachings of the Methodist Church,” said Rev. Joseph Sprague, a recently retired Chicago- area Methodist bishop who helped sponsor the petition.
“ It will do nothing but perpetuate the kind of neocon thinking of this administration which has taken both this nation and the world in the wrong direction.”
The criticism comes as university leaders enter final negotiations, which they say they hope to conclude “ within weeks, rather than months.”
Bush recently came to the defence of his library.
“ I understand there are some who have reservations, and my admonition to them, or my advice to them, is just understand that a library, an institute, would enhance education,” he said in the interview with the Dallas television station.
“ It would be a place for interesting discussion.”
Oh yeah, they can discuss topics such as his failed foreign policy, failed domestic policy, successful attacks on personal liberties, corrupt and deceitful members of his administration, etc., etc., etc.
There are all kinds of "interesting discussions" that could be held . . . .
