wfn.org | [UMNS-ALL-NEWS] UMNS# 301-Delegates affirm leasing land for Bush center

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>Delegates affirm leasing land for Bush center

Jul. 17, 2008    News media contact:   Linda  Green * (615) 7425470*   Nashville {301}

>A UMNS Report By Linda Green*

DALLAS-The owners of Southern Methodist University say a regional  mission council was authorized to give the university permission to  lease land to the President George W. Bush Presidential Center.

On July 17, the delegates to the South Central Jurisdictional Conference  affirmed their  Mission Council's action but also approved a petition  protecting the integrity of both SMU and the jurisdiction itself by  indicating that a proposed institute "does not speak" for either.

The South Central Jurisdictional Conference, which owns the university,  says that it is "essential that the President George W. Bush Institute  function in a manner that maintains the integrity of Southern Methodist  University and the South Central Jurisdiction of The United Methodist  Church."

The public policy institute is to be one of three parts of a  presidential center that will also include a library and museum. The  institute has been opposed by United Methodists across the country who  fear it will be a partisan think-tank. Supporters have said it would be  an independent research facility.

The delegates note that the South Central Jurisdiction and The United  Methodist Church are dedicated to academic freedom. The conference  instructed the university to give a status report to its 2012 meeting  about its relationship with the both the Bush Foundation and the  institute.

"We will gladly give the report in four years ... with an emphasis on  the institute," said SMU president Gerald R. Turner. "That fits well  with what we would normally do anyway."

The 297 jursisdictional conference delegates from eight states have  differing views on locating the Bush Institute at United  Methodist-related SMU. Opponents argued that the Mission Council did not  follow church procedure and that the South Central Jurisdictional  Conference is the entity to approve land use.

On July 16 while members of the opposition held briefings for delegates  and the media, a petitions committee met for hours perfecting and  rejecting three petitions about the policy institute and its  relationship to the university and the jurisdiction.

In February, SMU officials approved giving the George W. Bush Foundation  a 99-year lease to build a presidential library, museum and policy  institute on school property. The lease is renewable up to 249 years.

That action came 11 months after a closed executive session in March  2007 when the Mission Council voted 10-4, with one abstention, to allow  SMU to lease up to 36 acres on the southeast side of campus to the  foundation. The policy institute - over which the school would have no  control - would be run by an independent board. The library and museum  will be operated by the National Archives and Records Administration.  The entire project is to be financed with a private fund drive conducted  by the George W. Bush Presidential Library Foundation. Cost estimates  hover around $500 million.

"Nearly every presidential library is created in controversy," said  Turner, adding that the university and the Bush Foundation followed  procedures in getting approval for leasing the land and "we acted in  good faith."

President Bush and his wife, Laura, are United Methodists, and the first  lady is a 1968 graduate of SMU.

Kansas Bishop Scott Jones, an SMU trustee, applauded the conference's  affirmation for the Mission Council. He also acknowledged the concerns  United Methodists in the jurisdiction and across the church have about  the relationship between the Bush Institute and the university.

"I believe the leaders of SMU, both the trustees and university  administration, carry the same concerns and, from my point of view as a  trustee, this petition is very welcome."

But the Rev. Tex Sample, professor emeritus of church and society at  Saint Paul School of Theology, Kansas City, Mo., said the South Central  Jurisdiction made a both a "big mistake" and "a serious transgression"  in subsidizing "the political goals of George W. Bush."

During a press conference after the hand vote, Sample said the South  Central Jurisdiction "will live to rue the day this happened." He  expressed disappointment in the conference's position, saying President  Bush's policies conflict with church teaching.

>Copy of the petition's recommendation:

"The South Central Jurisdiction of The United Methodist Church  understands that the institute does not speak for the South Central  Jurisdiction of The United Methodist Church or Southern Methodist  University. The South Central Jurisdiction of The United Methodist  Church is dedicated to academic freedom and instructs Southern Methodist  University to report back to the 2012 South Central Jurisdictional  Conference of The United Methodist Church on the relationship with the  institute and its impact on Southern Methodist University and the level  of compliance of the foundation and the institute with the covenants of  agreements protecting the integrity of Southern Methodist University and  indirectly the South Central Jurisdiction of The United Methodist  Church. Furthermore, the South Central Jurisdiction expects the  institute to function in a manner that protects the integrity of both  Southern Methodist University and the South Central Jurisdiction of The  United Methodist Church.

># # #

*Green is a United Methodist News Service news writer based in  Nashville, Tenn.

News media contact: Linda Green, Nashville, Tenn., (615) 742-5470 or  newsdesk@umcom.org. 
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United Methodist News Service Photos and stories also available at: http://umns.umc.org

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