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Leftist faculty and clergy have waged a long, sometimes nasty battle to keep Southern Methodist (SMU) University in Dallas from hosting the Bush Library. They have insisted that the library will tie SMU to the Bush Administration’s supposedly sinister policies of preemptive war, “torture,” uncontrolled Global Warming, and puritanical repression. But SMU’s board of trustees has finally voted unanimously in favor of the library. Diehard opponents vow to fight on. “This fight is not over,” declared an angry Rev. Andrew Weaver to the United Methodist News Service. Weaver is an ordained United Methodist minister and New York City psychologist who...

President Bush said Thursday that he would probably accept foreign donations to build his presidential library in Dallas and would consider keeping the donors’ names confidential if they do not want to be identified. The comments, at a White House news conference, were the first time Mr. Bush had talked in any detail about his plans for the library, which will be at Southern Methodist University, the alma mater of First Lady Laura Bush. But his detail was scant. “We just announced the deal,” he said, “and I, frankly, have been focused elsewhere, like on gasoline prices and, you know,...

Millions of records, photos and artifacts tracing the presidency of George W. Bush will move from the White House to a white North Texas warehouse by early 2009 under a recently awarded government contract. The six-year, $12.7 million contract, overseen by the National Archives and Records Administration, will turn Lewisville's 1725 Lakepointe Drive into the hub of work to organize and catalogue a massive cache of presidential materials before they move into a permanent library. "It is expected that the collection will be greater than the Clinton holdings, which consist of over 30,000 cubic feet of textual and non-textual holdings,"...

Famed New York architect Robert A.M. Stern, who has designed traditional, elegant homes and buildings from Martha's Vineyard to Kazakhstan, has been chosen to design the George W. Bush Presidential Library. The decision announced Tuesday seems to all but guarantee that the library will be built at Southern Methodist University in Dallas, first lady Laura Bush's alma mater. SMU appears to be the only site still in the running for the prestigious facility, although members of the selection team have not announced their final choice. In a telephone interview, Stern said he was chosen after meeting with the Bushes at...

DALLAS, United States (AFP) - Plans to establish a presidential library and think tank 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. At a recent vote, the faculty senate split 13-13 over creating a complete divide between the institute and the university, where First Lady Laura Bush earned...

Ministers: No Bush library at SMU By ANGELA K. BROWN, Associated Press Writer 27 minutes ago A group of Methodist ministers from across the nation launched an online petition drive Thursday urging Southern Methodist University to stop trying to land George W. Bush's presidential library. The petition, on a newly created Web site, http://www.protectsmu.org, says that "as United Methodists, we believe that the linking of his presidency with a university bearing the Methodist name is utterly inappropriate." "Methodists have a long history of social conscience, so questions about the conduct of this president are very concerning," said one of the...

Gates awed by A&M By HOLLY HUFFMAN Eagle Staff Writer When Texas A&M University President Robert Gates departs Aggieland next week, he said he will do so with just one regret - a wish for more time. There are, of course, projects the 63-year-old would have liked to see through. He had hoped to see the completion of the life sciences building, which his 10th story office overlooks, he said. And he expressed disappointment that he would not be on campus to see the reconstruction of Military Walk, a project designed to restore a main walkway leading through the heart...

WASHINGTON - He may be a certified lame duck now, but President Bush and his truest believers are about to launch their final campaign - an eye-popping, half-billion-dollar drive for the Bush presidential library. Eager to begin refurbishing his tattered legacy, the President hopes to raise $500 million to build his library and a think tank at Southern Methodist University in Dallas. Bush lived in Dallas until he was elected governor of Texas in 1995. Bush sources with direct knowledge of library plans told the Daily News that SMU and Bush fund-raisers hope to get half of the half billion...

Heaven help me, with all the talk about the George W. Bush Presidential Library, a question keeps coming to mind: What's it going to have? Coloring books? Now, don't get all defensive on me. We can tease because he's one of us, right? And you have to admit: There's something ironic about building a library for a guy who has never been in one. Oh, maybe not "never." He did marry a librarian. There may have been some "research" in the stacks back in the day. Go ahead, add the rim shot. Yet here in Dallas and down in Waco,...

(March 16, 2006)—Baylor University, Southern Methodist University and the University of Dallas were still in the running for the George W. Bush Presidential Library Thursday, but a site backed by a group led by Texas Tech University has been eliminated. Selection committee chairman Donald Evans says committee members appreciated the West Texas group's plan, but have decided to narrow their search to the other three proposals. The West Texas Coalition was a partnership between Texas Tech in Lubbock and Midland College. Last fall, the city of Arlington, Texas A&M and the University of Texas System were eliminated as potential sites....

Exclusive: Still under wraps, proposal likely to be batch of buildings for tourists, scholars In an aggressive bid to win the Bush presidential library, SMU envisions a complex of buildings that could include a high-tech museum and archives, a school of politics, a conference center and offices, all aimed at raising the school's national profile and making it a prime destination for scholars and tourists. A spokesman for the National Archives in Washington confirmed that Southern Methodist University retained Hillier Architecture of Princeton, N.J., to prepare a conceptual master plan for the coveted project, tentatively plotted in the southeastern quadrant...

Organizers trying to bring a presidential library to Lubbock will reveal part of their proposal to a Dallas man suing Southern Methodist University. Gary Vodicka is suing SMU, a finalist for the George W. Bush Presidential Library, alleging that the university is trying to take his property to make room for the library. Vodicka subpoenaed library proposals from Texas Tech, Baylor University and the University of Dallas, the other three finalists for the library, as part of his suit. David Miller, chairman of the West Texas Coalition for the George W. Bush Presidential Library, announced Thursday that Tech had agreed...

WASHINGTON - David Miller looked relieved. After weeks of preparing slides, videos and speeches for this moment, the work was finally done - at least for now. In front of President Bush's chief of staff, Andrew Card, advisers Karl Rove and Harriet Miers and even the president's brother Marvin, Miller and 19 West Texas representatives finally had the opportunity on Wednesday morning to make the case about why Texas Tech should be home to the George W. Bush Presidential Library. In the 21/2-hour presentation at the prominent Washington hotel The Mayflower, Tech Chancellor David Smith, President Jon Whitmore and others...

A contingent of Baylor University officials will leave today for Washington, D.C., to make their case for why the school should host the George W. Bush Presidential Library. The seven-member Baylor delegation is scheduled to make its oral presentation beginning at 9 a.m. Tuesday at the capital's historic Mayflower Hotel, said Tommye Lou Davis, director of Baylor's presidential library planning committee. Baylor officials continue to keep quiet about the details of their proposal, out of concern of tipping their hand to the other contenders. Last month, the president's library selection committee, headed by former U.S. commerce secretary Don Evans, announced...

NewsChannel 11 has obtained the video the West Texas Coalition sent to the White House in its bid for the George W. Bush Presidential Library. It's the same video that helped Texas Tech advance as one of the four finalists. The video proposal includes interviews from Lubbock, Amarillo and Midland leaders, all urging the president to build his library in Lubbock.....(click for rest of article and video)

The University of Texas System today unveiled a proposal to host President George W. Bush's library and museum that suggests three possible sites, one in Austin and two in Dallas. The local site would be the UT-Brackenridge tract along Lake Austin Boulevard, just west of MoPac Boulevard (Loop 1). The other sites are a downtown property in Dallas and the campus of UT-Dallas. UT System officials also proposed a secondary site at UT-San Antonio to serve as a high-security conference center for world leaders and scholars. Donald Evans, a former commerce secretary, and Marvin Bush, the president's brother, sought the...

BY ELLIOTT BLACKBURN AVALANCHE-JOURNAL Midland College regents abandoned their pursuit of the George W. Bush Presidential Library in a unanimous vote Tuesday, pledging to join Lubbock's effort to bring the library to West Texas. The two-year school will instead pursue a $10 million to $15 million literacy center honoring first lady Laura Bush and support a presidential library based at Texas Tech. Midland College President David Daniel said regents realized that a pitch for the full presidential library would have been daunting, and they were pleased with the opportunity to host a center that matched the community college's adult education...

A high-powered search committee, which includes a former commerce secretary and a president's brother, is busy scanning the Texas heartland for the best spot to locate President Bush's library, even though he won't be out of office for another 42 months. The formal bidding has not yet opened, but several Texas universities, along with the city of Arlington, Texas, already have prepared lengthy proposals to persuade the search committee. "[Former Commerce Secretary] Don Evans is a key player in this, as is President Bush's brother Marvin," said Arlington Mayor Robert Cluck, who has written three letters to the president and...

There's no White House confirmation, but the New York Daily News has declared Dallas the winner in the George W. Bush presidential library sweepstakes. In today's editions, the newspaper quotes "Bush insiders" as declaring that the library will be built on or near the Southern Methodist University campus.

When does Bush announce the location of his Pres. library, and does anyone know where it will be located? I would assume that Yale would be a possibility, but perhaps somewhere in Texas as well. UT-Austin has LBJ's library, and A&M has GHWB's, so maybe SMU? I know Laura went there, and when I visited there last year I saw that W had dedicated a promenade to her for her birthday.

With the announcement that the University of Texas System will draft a proposal for a presidential library for George W. Bush, we say, "Come on down." There's a strong case for locating the library in San Antonio. First, consider the competition. Presidential libraries already exist in Austin and College Station, at the state's two flagship universities, the University of Texas at Austin and Texas A&M University Austin houses President Lyndon Johnson's library. Texas A&M is home to the George Bush Presidential Library and Museum. The resources of a major public university, preferably in a major urban area, are necessary for...

University system faces competition from SMU, Baylor, A&M and the Texas Rangers. By Ralph K.M. Haurwitz AMERICAN-STATESMAN STAFF Friday, February 11, 2005 The list of competitors for hosting George W. Bush's presidential library just got longer. University of Texas System regents announced Thursday the formation of a special committee to offer one or more proposals to land the library, perhaps involving more than one of the system's 15 campuses. The panel will be led by Tom Loeffler, a San Antonio lawyer, former UT regents' chairman and former congressman, and Peter Flawn, former president of UT-Austin and UT-San Antonio. "We're going...

Baylor, SMU are leading rivals for a Bush center RESOURCES WHO WANTS IT Here's a look at the entities that have shown an interest in hosting the George W. Bush Presidential Library and Museum:• Baylor University: In Waco; the Baptist university is about 30 miles east of Bush's Crawford ranch.• Southern Methodist University: In Dallas; the alma mater of first lady Laura Bush.• University of Texas at Austin: Where Laura Bush earned her master's degree, the alma mater of one of the couple's twin daughters and the home of the Lyndon Baines Johnson Library and Museum.• Texas A&M University: In...

The Heart of Texas Chapter and other Freepers from around the state gathered at the George H.W. Bush Library and Museum on Saturday, November 23rd. for a fun afternoon of viewing and eating.We had 15 Freepers/spouses and 4 little Freepers with us. Two of our group came from Tyler and one came from Brownsville. Thank you all for taking the time to "make a weekend" of it and join us. We also met some local Freepers from right there in the Bryan/College Station area. I do not have the attendance list with me and ask that someone post any persons...

The Heart of Texas Chapter (HOT) of Free Republic would like to invite any interested FReepers and their families to join us on Saturday, November 23rd for a day at the George H.W. Bush Library and Museum in College Station, Texas. We will meet at 12:00 noon inside the rotunda of the museum. At 3:30, we'll go to a local restaurant for some good food, conversation, and FReeper Fun. Please join us for a fun afternoon! We have secured a group discount rate of $3.50 for adults and students (see details below). Children age 16 and under are FREE. Parking...

The Heart of Texas Chapter (HOT) of Free Republic would like to invite any interested Freepers and their families to join us on Saturday, November 23rd for a day at the George H.W. Bush Library and Museum in College Station, Texas. We will meet at noon inside the entrance to the museum. Afterwards we plan to go to a local restaurant for some good food and conversation.