Spring Break
A Colossal wreck at SMU
George Henson, ghenson@smu.edu
Issue date: 1/24/07 Section: Opinion
Not surprisingly, Drs. Hopkins and Ippolito, chairmen respectively of the departments of history and political science, have weighed in on the controversy.
Needless to say, the opinions of the chairmen whose departments, as they point out in their recent article, will be "vitally engaged in the scholarship to emerge from the Bush Library" matter.
It is unfortunate, however, that what began as an intellectual argument in favor of the library ended with a maudlin plea to sentimentalism.
"We should be honored," they write, "that SMU will have the opportunity to be a major documentary repository that will over time allow generations of scholars and their audiences to understand better the undeniably crucial years of the Bush presidency."
If that is the pre-construction rhetoric, I can only imagine how pathetic the dedication ceremony will be.
There is no honor in hosting a library for a president whose tenure has been marked by corruption, abuse of power, neglect of its citizenry, dishonesty, deception, cronyism, divisiveness and bellicosity.
As for the think tank, what the Bush cabal plans to build is more likely to be a war center, considering the neocons' penchant for waging war as a vehicle of foreign policy or an US-Arab chamber of commerce, considering the list of donors.
Ultimately, when all is said and done (read: built), people will come - not unlike a new Wal-Mart on the outskirts of a small town. But at what price?
Drs. Hopkins and Ippolito allude to the "caveats and concerns" associated with the library. The fact that his department is grooming students who think that liberal professors should be routedc should be a primary concern for Dr. Ippolito, not to mention a scary portent for every professor.
There is no question that SMU will become more conservative when the library is built. An ideological shift in the faculty will be inevitable as forces wreak havoc from above and below - not unlike the Bush administration has wrought havoc on the environment, foreign policy, civil liberties, the middle class and the working poor.
The question is how conservative will the George Bush mega-mall make an already largely homogeneous student body.
How long before the moral conscience of Methodism is replaced by the moralizing intolerance of rightwing fundamentalism?
How long before SMU becomes GBU?
Endnotes:
a) youtube.com/watch?v=YNo0_klkzis
b) youtube.com/watch?v=slowrojlmbs
c) yahoo.com/s/ap/20070113/ap_on_re_us/bush_library
About the writer:
George Henson is a Spanish professor at SMU. He can be reached ghenson@smu.edu.
Needless to say, the opinions of the chairmen whose departments, as they point out in their recent article, will be "vitally engaged in the scholarship to emerge from the Bush Library" matter.
It is unfortunate, however, that what began as an intellectual argument in favor of the library ended with a maudlin plea to sentimentalism.
"We should be honored," they write, "that SMU will have the opportunity to be a major documentary repository that will over time allow generations of scholars and their audiences to understand better the undeniably crucial years of the Bush presidency."
If that is the pre-construction rhetoric, I can only imagine how pathetic the dedication ceremony will be.
There is no honor in hosting a library for a president whose tenure has been marked by corruption, abuse of power, neglect of its citizenry, dishonesty, deception, cronyism, divisiveness and bellicosity.
As for the think tank, what the Bush cabal plans to build is more likely to be a war center, considering the neocons' penchant for waging war as a vehicle of foreign policy or an US-Arab chamber of commerce, considering the list of donors.
Ultimately, when all is said and done (read: built), people will come - not unlike a new Wal-Mart on the outskirts of a small town. But at what price?
Drs. Hopkins and Ippolito allude to the "caveats and concerns" associated with the library. The fact that his department is grooming students who think that liberal professors should be routedc should be a primary concern for Dr. Ippolito, not to mention a scary portent for every professor.
There is no question that SMU will become more conservative when the library is built. An ideological shift in the faculty will be inevitable as forces wreak havoc from above and below - not unlike the Bush administration has wrought havoc on the environment, foreign policy, civil liberties, the middle class and the working poor.
The question is how conservative will the George Bush mega-mall make an already largely homogeneous student body.
How long before the moral conscience of Methodism is replaced by the moralizing intolerance of rightwing fundamentalism?
How long before SMU becomes GBU?
Endnotes:
a) youtube.com/watch?v=YNo0_klkzis
b) youtube.com/watch?v=slowrojlmbs
c) yahoo.com/s/ap/20070113/ap_on_re_us/bush_library
About the writer:
George Henson is a Spanish professor at SMU. He can be reached ghenson@smu.edu.
Viewing Comments 1 - 3 of 3
Tom Hunt
posted 1/24/07 @ 6:39 AM EST
With all the evil that he speaks of Mr.Bush, I don't believe that Mr. Henson has had his right to express his opinion squashed by Mr.Bush. In fact Mr. (Continued…)
B
posted 1/24/07 @ 8:07 AM EST
I don't always agree with you, but fantastic article!
Kurt Fischer
posted 1/25/07 @ 11:06 PM EST
While on campus on Wednesday night to attend a Continuing Education class, I picked up a copy of The Daily Campus. In it I read both this article ("A Colossal Wreck at SMU") and a Letter to the Editor from Lindsay Chambers. (Continued…)
Post a Comment