Theo North

The NYT has a followup to an article from earlier this week about the faculty reaction at SMU to the future GW Bush library that may be constructed on or adjacent to their campus. Their primary concerns? Academic and religious integrity, terrorists, and infamy.

At a meeting on Tuesday, close to 150 faculty members raised concerns about the project and formulated what became 35 questions for the university president, R. Gerald Turner, on the relationship between the university and the Bush library and policy center. The questions included, “How would the institute affect the intellectual integrity of S.M.U.?”

Faculty members voiced concerns that the policy center and the university could merge roles, giving administration figures like Karl Rove an academic forum.

Others said security was an issue, a theme that the community has aired in letters to the editor and blogs.

First you ask what effect the library would have on the intellectual integrity of your institution, then you fret that Rove or others might be given an academic forum? Doesn’t the latter question demonstrate that the intellectual integrity of your institution has already been surrendered? God forbid we actually have intellectual discourse and allow dissenters a voice.

Hysteria is spreading throughout the region:

A woman in Garland, Deborah Lewis, wrote The Fort Worth Star-Telegram that Dallas was already infamous for the assassination of President John F. Kennedy: “now it probably will be known for honoring the worst president ever.”

“He’s, like, the worse president ever,” exclaimed the shrieking woman as she sold her house and departed in a U-Haul for Canada. Nine out of ten Americans probably couldn’t tell you that Kennedy was shot in Dallas, let alone do they hold a grudge against the entire city/state/region for the assassination. Has the Hoover Institute had an adverse effect on the reputation of Stanford (or the liberal bias of her faculty?) I didn’t realize that the point of academia was to surround yourself with people who never disagree with you. Enter SMU President R. Gerald Turner, and reason, into the debate:

But Dr. Turner in a letter to faculty, staff and students on Jan. 5 … said that through the Bush library, museum and institute “visiting scholars and dignitaries will be available for interaction who otherwise would not be in residence and accessible to our campus community.”

Well how about that? The library might improve the academic reputation of SMU and provide benefit to the faculty and students. (NYT)

Earlier: SMU Faculty Complains about GWB Library

This entry was posted on Sunday, January 14th, 2007 at 5.09 pm and is filed under George W Bush, Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.