2008 Woodie Awards
Those articles of incorporation: An Inconvenient Truth
Susanne Johnson, susannej@smu.edu
Issue date: 3/20/07 Section: Opinion
According to President R. Gerald Turner, in order for SMU to secure the George W. Bush Presidential Library and Museum, the university must also accept a proposed partisan institute. Yes, such an institute is troubling, so the argument goes, but because the positive benefits of a presidential library and museum outweigh the negative reality of a politically partisan institute, the prospective all-in-one package is thereby acceptable.
Many of us would submit, however, that there are no valid reasons, academic or otherwise, why the library and institute should be said to rise or fall together, or the institute considered as an inseparable unit. Scholarly integrity demands that we evaluate each component of the proposed package on its own distinct academic merits, and against its respective capacity to support the academic mission of SMU.
A politically partisan think tank located at any school, college or university is utterly contradictory to education as approached within a free and democratic society. The precedent it would set, moreover, would put the values of open inquiry and academic freedom at risk not only for SMU but also for all institutions of higher education.
There is no reason not to disaggregate the institute from the so-called all-in-one package. By President Turner's own public admission, serious discussion around the negotiating table about such a possibility has never taken place; he's only mentioned it in passing reference during a phone conversation with Don Evans.
Because SMU so sorely wants to host the presidential library and museum, and because George W. Bush so intensely desires for us to do so, there is plenty of commitment on both sides to accommodate further give-and-take negotiations. This is what reasonable people do. And if we doubt the capacity of Bush Foundation people to engage in reasoned and respectful negotiations, then we have no business transacting with them in the first place. "Reason" is the staple of a university as surely as flour is to a kitchen cabinet. In Hebrew scripture, as a matter of fact, reasoning together in mutually respectful dialogue is seen as a participation in the life of the Divine (Isaiah 1:18).
Many of us would submit, however, that there are no valid reasons, academic or otherwise, why the library and institute should be said to rise or fall together, or the institute considered as an inseparable unit. Scholarly integrity demands that we evaluate each component of the proposed package on its own distinct academic merits, and against its respective capacity to support the academic mission of SMU.
A politically partisan think tank located at any school, college or university is utterly contradictory to education as approached within a free and democratic society. The precedent it would set, moreover, would put the values of open inquiry and academic freedom at risk not only for SMU but also for all institutions of higher education.
There is no reason not to disaggregate the institute from the so-called all-in-one package. By President Turner's own public admission, serious discussion around the negotiating table about such a possibility has never taken place; he's only mentioned it in passing reference during a phone conversation with Don Evans.
Because SMU so sorely wants to host the presidential library and museum, and because George W. Bush so intensely desires for us to do so, there is plenty of commitment on both sides to accommodate further give-and-take negotiations. This is what reasonable people do. And if we doubt the capacity of Bush Foundation people to engage in reasoned and respectful negotiations, then we have no business transacting with them in the first place. "Reason" is the staple of a university as surely as flour is to a kitchen cabinet. In Hebrew scripture, as a matter of fact, reasoning together in mutually respectful dialogue is seen as a participation in the life of the Divine (Isaiah 1:18).
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