If the race for the George W. Bush Presidential Library is the Tour de France, SMU would be Lance Armstrong during the final stage – not past the finish line yet, but cruising toward it sipping champagne.

The committee in charge of selecting a site for the library announced Thursday, Dec. 21 that it is entering into exclusive negotiations with SMU.

SMU President R. Gerald Turner spoke at a press conference that day, where he came as close to saying the school had gotten the library without actually saying so.

“We’re not announcing that it’s coming to SMU. But, this is as good of an announcement as we could give you on this occasion,” Turner said. “I can’t say we have got it until (Search Committee Chair) Don Evans says we’ve got it, and he has not.”But in the weeks before the announcement, members of the SMU faculty began raising questions about the library.

A letter authored by William McElvaney and Susanne Johnson in the Nov. 10, 2006 issue of The Daily Campus was the first open dissent to the project by any faculty members.A month later, a letter originating from Johnson hit the Internet.

It was to be circulated amongst SMU faculty members for their signature and it called for greater debate about the library and criticized the Bush administration.

The faculty fervor only grew after the Dec. 21 announcement, and SMU Faculty Senate President Rhonda Blair called a special meeting that was held last Tuesday, Jan. 9. Blair mediated the open forum that was closed to the media.

The SMU faculty discussed its concerns regarding the Bush library potentially coming to SMU. The goal, said Blair, was to provide a place for faculty to speak in order to gather a specific list of questions and concerns.

Blair had a follow-up meeting with and presented the faculty’s concerns to President R. Gerald Turner the next day.The faculty’s main concerns included the library’s budgetary impact, academic freedom and access to records. Blair pointed out that in the long run these particular presidential papers will be “incredibly significant.” The faculty is also concerned about the relationship between the university library, the museum and the Bush Institute.

Political science professor Cal Jillson voiced concerns about the institute, which he said does not fit perfectly on campus.

“I know a lot about it, but I still want to know more to be satisfied,” said Jillson.

Jillson served on the original academic committee formed in 2001 to work on elements of the library and its potential place at SMU.

The Bush Library consists of three main components.

The first is The George W. Bush Presidential Library, which would hold all the presidential papers. The second is the museum, which would present Bush and his administration in its best light. The third part would be the Bush Institute,.This piece has been described as a “think tank” where scholars and political practitioners would have offices to write articles and opinion pieces supportive of the Bush administration.

There was concern about what kind of impact the library would make on the reputation of the university, said Blair.

History professor Glenn Linden said that the faculty is in favor of having a presidential library, but is critical of the academic oversight of the institute.

“SMU has a distinguished history in academic freedom,” said Linden.

Representatives from Baylor University and the University of Dallas were told privately that their respective schools have been eliminated from contention. The only way the two could be back in the race is if SMU and the committee failed to reach an agreement.

The negotiation process involves the library committee evaluating the different plans submitted by SMU in Nov. 2005.

The two sides must come to an agreement on what the library complex will look like, where it will be and which programs will be a part of it.

The likely site involves the land currently occupied by the University Gardens condominium complex and Binkley Apartments. Other available land includes the former Mrs. Baird’s Factory and the Park Cities Plaza shopping center.

The Daily Campus was the first to report in August that local businessman and Board of Trustee member Ray Hunt gave SMU $35 million to buy the shopping center in Nov. 2005.

Also at stake is the funding of the project. SMU could be expected to raise as much as $200 million for the complex.

The committee needs to be sure the school could raise such an amount in a certain timeframe. Turner said that fundraising for the library would be nationwide, not solely focused on the deep-pocketed Park Cities neighborhoods.

There is no set timeline on the length of the negotiations, according to Turner, who said the school would be “diligent in working with the site selection committee.”

Negotiations are currently underway.

SMU has been considered the front runner in the library sweepstakes thanks to a multitude of links with the current administration.

The most notable is First Lady Laura Bush, who is a member of the Board of Trustees and a graduate of the school.

Presidential libraries are operated by the federal government, but are built with private monies.

In addition to holding tens of thousands of papers to be used for research, libraries are also part tourist attractions.Turner said between 300 and 1,500 people a day could be expected to visit the Bush library.

When asked how the school could handle the additional influx of traffic, Turner replied people would have to wait and see. SMU would join two other Texas schools that already have presidential libraries: the Lyndon Baines Johnson Library at the University of Texas at Austin and the George H.W. Bush Library at Texas A&M University.

– Neely Eisenstein contributed to this report.