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Well, it's a new semester and many things have happened since elections. The Democrats passed their first 100 hour campaign promises, and there will be a whole post on that soon, but what's really important now is the Bush Library debate.
SMU has been named the finalist in the Bush Library selection and when all said and done the library will be joined by a museum and a conservative think tank, the Bush Institute. Many faculty have expressed their displeasure with the inclusion of the Bush Institute, as well as Methodist priests, but what about the students? The administration recently addressed the faculty's concerns but it was at a meeting that students were not invited to. Many students want the administration to join in an open discussion with us and the faculty, as well as members of the community, to address questions we have about the library and think tank,
It is my personal opinion that while I do not support President Bush and would much rather have a presidential library for a different and totally awesome president to grace the campus of the university that's going to hand me a bachelor's degree, we're getting the GWB one and it's still a presidential library which is pretty cool. However, what comes with it is not pretty cool in any way. The Bush Institute is a conservative think tank on which SMU has zero oversight. Universities are supposed to be non-partisan centers of learning. A place that doesn't drive others away. A conservative think tank will be partisan and will drive students, alumni and donors away. People will be less inclined to donate to SMU's academic endeavors just because the Bush Institute (and in some cases the Bush Library as well) sits atop the hill. It will be a magnet for protests, vandalism, and crime. Students won't feel safe walking in the south part of campus if they're worried they'll be hit by a brick that was meant for one of the windows of the Bush Library. Homeowners in the area don't want the library/institute here either for the same reasons, as well as increased traffic on small two lane roads.
Speaking of housing, this is a problem being caused by the GWB Library and Institute as well. SMU has already used imminent domain to take the homes of the University Gardens residents and the residents of the homes on Potomac Avenue (which runs from the stadium to where University Gardens used to stand behind the bookstore shopping center). What I know of the design for the Library/Museum/Institute is that it looks like everything else on campus (red brick, Jeffersonian design, pillars and domes) and it's absolutely enormous. It's a $500 million building, how can it not be enormous? In order to place this on the corner where University Gardens used to stand, SMU will have to tear down the shopping center with the ONLY place to buy textbooks and those homes it bought on Potomac, as well as the little strip of parkland between those homes and the shopping center. But more importantly for students, they will have to tear down the Binkleys. The Binkleys are student apartments. The only student apartments on campus. There's a lot of them-- many students live there. I'm not sure how many, but when they're torn down there won't be space for them in the dorms. A lot of international students live there, and they can't get apartments off campus. Being in Highland Park, apartments near campus are uber expensive-- much more so than campus apartments done through Residence Life and Student Housing. Does the University have plans to build more student apartments? The Binkleys, like University Gardens, are pretty rundown anyway, but that's still a large chunk of the student body that will no longer be able to live on campus.
Some links of interest:
www.protectsmu.edu A petition started by United Methodist Minsiters to prevent the library and institute from coming to campus.
bushlibraryblog.wordpress.com A blog by a fantastic faculty member about his and other faculty's perspective and concerns.
SMU has been named the finalist in the Bush Library selection and when all said and done the library will be joined by a museum and a conservative think tank, the Bush Institute. Many faculty have expressed their displeasure with the inclusion of the Bush Institute, as well as Methodist priests, but what about the students? The administration recently addressed the faculty's concerns but it was at a meeting that students were not invited to. Many students want the administration to join in an open discussion with us and the faculty, as well as members of the community, to address questions we have about the library and think tank,
It is my personal opinion that while I do not support President Bush and would much rather have a presidential library for a different and totally awesome president to grace the campus of the university that's going to hand me a bachelor's degree, we're getting the GWB one and it's still a presidential library which is pretty cool. However, what comes with it is not pretty cool in any way. The Bush Institute is a conservative think tank on which SMU has zero oversight. Universities are supposed to be non-partisan centers of learning. A place that doesn't drive others away. A conservative think tank will be partisan and will drive students, alumni and donors away. People will be less inclined to donate to SMU's academic endeavors just because the Bush Institute (and in some cases the Bush Library as well) sits atop the hill. It will be a magnet for protests, vandalism, and crime. Students won't feel safe walking in the south part of campus if they're worried they'll be hit by a brick that was meant for one of the windows of the Bush Library. Homeowners in the area don't want the library/institute here either for the same reasons, as well as increased traffic on small two lane roads.
Speaking of housing, this is a problem being caused by the GWB Library and Institute as well. SMU has already used imminent domain to take the homes of the University Gardens residents and the residents of the homes on Potomac Avenue (which runs from the stadium to where University Gardens used to stand behind the bookstore shopping center). What I know of the design for the Library/Museum/Institute is that it looks like everything else on campus (red brick, Jeffersonian design, pillars and domes) and it's absolutely enormous. It's a $500 million building, how can it not be enormous? In order to place this on the corner where University Gardens used to stand, SMU will have to tear down the shopping center with the ONLY place to buy textbooks and those homes it bought on Potomac, as well as the little strip of parkland between those homes and the shopping center. But more importantly for students, they will have to tear down the Binkleys. The Binkleys are student apartments. The only student apartments on campus. There's a lot of them-- many students live there. I'm not sure how many, but when they're torn down there won't be space for them in the dorms. A lot of international students live there, and they can't get apartments off campus. Being in Highland Park, apartments near campus are uber expensive-- much more so than campus apartments done through Residence Life and Student Housing. Does the University have plans to build more student apartments? The Binkleys, like University Gardens, are pretty rundown anyway, but that's still a large chunk of the student body that will no longer be able to live on campus.
Some links of interest:
www.protectsmu.edu A petition started by United Methodist Minsiters to prevent the library and institute from coming to campus.
bushlibraryblog.wordpress.com A blog by a fantastic faculty member about his and other faculty's perspective and concerns.
posted by Katy @ 11:44 PM
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