Spring Break
Bush library debate focuses spotlight on SMU
Mark Norris, Editor In Chief, mnorris@smu.edu
Issue date: 1/30/07 Section: News
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Three faculty meetings, two petitions and numerous editorials later, the drama that is the Bush Library complex continues to gain a wider audience in the United States and worldwide.
The debate has shone a bright, and sometimes harsh, spotlight on the Hilltop.
Media inquiries about the Bush Library have flooded SMU's News and Communications office. According to its media monitoring service, 329 articles and television segments have been done on SMU's bid for the complex since the Dec. 21 announcement that the school was entering into exclusive negotiations with the library committee.
Last week, ABC's "World News with Charles Gibson" had a story on the debate in addition to other coverage on CNN and MSNBC. The story has received column space in the Washington Post and the New York Times, both of which have sent reporters to cover the faculty meetings along with reporters from The Associated Press and the Dallas Morning News.
The story has gone international in the past week with articles in the United Kingdom's The Guardian and The Daily Telegraph of London and a German newspaper. The debate was also featured on "Canada A.M.," that country's equivalent of "Good Morning America."
But the unofficial sign that the debate had hit the big time was during last Thursday's Colbert Report. The show dedicated its "The Word" segment to the campus debate over the complex, and host Colbert commented on the opinion piece that ran in The Daily Campus in November by professors Susanne Johnson and William McElvaney.
Johnson said she had never watched the show before she heard about Thursday's segment.
"My friends sent me clips on the computer…I had to work to see the gist of the show, but after I understood what they were doing I thought it was funny," she said.
Johnson said she was surprised the debate over the complex came up on the show.
The debate will hit local airwaves on the debut show of KERA's "Think." Hosted by Krys Boyd, the show will air this Friday at 7:30 p.m. and feature SMU Professor James F. Hollifield, director of the Tower Center, and Professor Kathleen A. Wellman, who teaches History.
The debate has shone a bright, and sometimes harsh, spotlight on the Hilltop.
Media inquiries about the Bush Library have flooded SMU's News and Communications office. According to its media monitoring service, 329 articles and television segments have been done on SMU's bid for the complex since the Dec. 21 announcement that the school was entering into exclusive negotiations with the library committee.
Last week, ABC's "World News with Charles Gibson" had a story on the debate in addition to other coverage on CNN and MSNBC. The story has received column space in the Washington Post and the New York Times, both of which have sent reporters to cover the faculty meetings along with reporters from The Associated Press and the Dallas Morning News.
The story has gone international in the past week with articles in the United Kingdom's The Guardian and The Daily Telegraph of London and a German newspaper. The debate was also featured on "Canada A.M.," that country's equivalent of "Good Morning America."
But the unofficial sign that the debate had hit the big time was during last Thursday's Colbert Report. The show dedicated its "The Word" segment to the campus debate over the complex, and host Colbert commented on the opinion piece that ran in The Daily Campus in November by professors Susanne Johnson and William McElvaney.
Johnson said she had never watched the show before she heard about Thursday's segment.
"My friends sent me clips on the computer…I had to work to see the gist of the show, but after I understood what they were doing I thought it was funny," she said.
Johnson said she was surprised the debate over the complex came up on the show.
The debate will hit local airwaves on the debut show of KERA's "Think." Hosted by Krys Boyd, the show will air this Friday at 7:30 p.m. and feature SMU Professor James F. Hollifield, director of the Tower Center, and Professor Kathleen A. Wellman, who teaches History.
Viewing Comments 1 - 1 of 1
Karen Baker-Fletcher
posted 1/30/07 @ 4:25 PM CST
I appreciate that our faculty at Perkins School of Theology and SMU generally has begun expressing high regard for one another even as we disagree, particularly in the January 24th faculty discussion with President Gerald Turner. (Continued…)
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