To the SMU Board of Trustees:
I attended Southern Methodist University what seams like an eternity ago. I did not consider myself wealthy then and nearly thirty years after my baccalaureate I do not consider myself wealthy now. I do not have sufficient spare time to be active in the Alumni Association and I do not possess excess assets to contribute to the university. Although I have not become a captain of industry as many alumni, I earn a respectable living as a consulting civil engineer and I have a particular pride in my education because of what the diploma represents.
Most civil engineers in Texas hold degrees from one of two state institutions once considered athletic and academic rivals. As an alumnus of SMU I am a minority in my profession yet I am secure in the knowledge that the liberal arts curriculum enhanced my education. The University College System, whereby students pursuing different fields of study participate in and benefit from diversity and broad-minded thinking, elevates the SMU degree plans above others. I am troubled to discover that some students consider top-tier liberal faculty a bane to the university and wish them removed from the classrooms.
The following is a quote from an Associated Press story dated January 12, 2007:
As for the students …a … junior and political science major, said on campus Friday: “This school has a very conservative vibe, and most of the students like Bush. The only people who don’t seem to be are the faculty. I know for a fact that some are real liberal and I don’t think they should be teaching here.”
The university constantly strives to achieve academic excellence. I remember an initiative during the mid-seventies that raised questions about academic excellence and why it impacted my education. I hope and pray the student responsible for the quote is not exemplary of the current standards for academic excellence. Persons reading the quote might infer that the SMU curriculum has intolerance as its foundation and provincial wisdom as the intended product.
The narrow-minded attitude reflected in the statement is a manifestation of the derisive and divisive attitude Mr. Bush and his ilk wrought upon this country. I believe the quote and the sentiment it espouses, printed in newspapers across the country and presented as representative of the SMU community, is an embarrassment to the student body, faculty, administration and alumni.
The Board of Trustees will significantly magnify the ignominy should they accept a shrine to a president characterized by intolerance, characterized by single-mindedness, characterized by an absence of intellectual curiosity.
A library and conservative think tank commemorating such a person and advocating the advancement of their policies could never be synonymous with a liberal arts education. A diploma from Southern Methodist University symbolizes a unique and distinctive education; please do not diminish that significance. Do not count me as a member of “the overwhelming majority of alumni” supporting the George W. Bush Library at my alma mater.
Robert H. Bretz ’78
