SMU’s pursuit of Bush Center prompted faculty concerns, questions about policy institute
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Faculty opposition intensified in late 2006 after SMU’s student newspaper, The Daily Campus, published a strongly worded editorial by McElvaney and his faculty colleague, Susanne Johnson.
In 2007, Methodist ministers and church members circulated a petition, signed by about 4,000 people, calling on SMU to stop negotiations for the Bush Center. Another petition, signed by 120 current and retired professors, demanded the policy institute not be built on campus land, connected to the library and museum or formally associated with SMU.
History professor Benjamin Johnson began a blog tracking the debate and outlining concerns. Along with risk of political influence, he worried the Bush Center, a prominent and well-funded organization, would overshadow the university and distract from its academic mission.
http://www.dallasnews.com/news/george-w-bush-presidential-center/presidential-center-headlines/20130506-smus-pursuit-of-bush-center-prompted-faculty-concerns-questions-about-policy-institute.ece