SMU to host Bush library, will 'celebrate his accomplishments'  Despite resistance from some Methodists and persistent protests by faculty members, a center honoring the papers and policies of George W. Bush's presidency will be built at Southern Methodist University in Dallas, officials announced Friday.
"How fitting is it that this storied political life that began here in Texas will write its final chapters right here in the good old Lone Star State and right here at this campus?" said Donald L. Evans, chairman of the George W. Bush Presidential Library Foundation and a longtime friend of Bush.
Evans added that the center would "celebrate this great president, celebrate his accomplishments."
While the decision had been expected for over a year, the library sparked controversy on the Methodist campus of 11,000. Teachers raised worries that the institute would be partisan in nature. They also warned against identifying the university so closely with the policies of the Bush administration.
Rhonda Blair, a professor of theater who was president of the Faculty Senate last year and attended the announcement, told the New York Times that she was concerned "about the potential hagiographic dimensions of the museum."
R. Gerald Turner, the university president, said the center would serve as a resource for students and historians, noting the programs would be bipartisan. But some delegates to a Methodist church legislative conference are raising money for a court challenge, concerned the facility will resemble a partisan think tank.
"The partisan institute would be hugely damaging to the university," said Rev. Andrew Weaver, a research psychologist in New York and SMU alum, "and the church needs to do what it can to protect the university."
The cost of the library, originally estimated at $500 million but lowered to $200 million, will be raised from donors.
In addition to a library of presidential papers, the center will include a museum and a public policy institute that will generally be independent of the university, though it will appoint at least one board member.
The foundation will not break ground until next year and the project won't likely be completed for five years.
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