Some Faculty Senate members are calling for a revote after a resolution regarding the Bush Institute failed on Wednesday with a vote of 13-13 and three abstentions. Another resolution calling for concurrent appointments at the institute to be appointed by both SMU and the institute passed.

The resolution that failed called on the university to choose one of two options: the institutions could either be completely separate from SMU or else it would have to submit to SMU’s governance.

In the first instance, the institute would not allowed to be associated with the SMU name without the university’s permission, nor would it be located on campus.

“The main point of connection between a possible Bush Institute and the university would be concurrent appointments of SMU faculty members with the Institute or of Institute Fellows with the university,” said Provost Thomas Tunks in an e-mail interview.

Alexis McCrossen, an associate professor in the history department, sent out a mass e-mail Thursday afternoon calling for Faculty Senate members to push for a revote with a secret ballot.

She requested a revote because many senators left before the vote took place.

Senate usually ends at 5 p.m., but Wednesday’s meeting didn’t end until 5:30 p.m. McCrossen said several members had left due to other obligations.

Tunks said that he was at the meeting to address “the cumulative effect of dragging out controversies that have largely been settled.”

Though McCrossen took issue with the public vote, another senator, English Professor Dennis Foster, pointed out that the Senate always votes publicly.

“I have been on the Senate for a long time, but I don’t remember a Senate vote ever being secret,” he said. “We’re senators, we’re supposed to take positions for the people we represent.”

Nevertheless, McCrossen said she thought Tunks and Senate President Rhonda Blair may have been unintentionally intimidating, adding that some may have felt pressured to vote one way for fear of losing tenure or contracts.

Blair thought Tunks thoughtfully articulated his concerns and the possible consequences of the resolution.

In all likelihood, there will be no revote since no Senate rules were violated. According to Blair, there is no stipulation in the bylaws for a revote.

Tunks reminded the Faculty Senate that negotiations for the Bush Library complex haven’t been finalized, and if the university continues to send negative messages about the Institute it may end up costing SMU the library. He added that the main issues concerning the relationship between the institute and the university have been resolved for the most part, “and to keep hammering on it is like continuing to hammer on a nail that is already in place – you don’t gain much, and could do damage.”

Tunks thinks the resolutions themselves (with the exception of the one calling for the firewall) are not really an issue. He says the issue is the “continuing string of negatives” coming SMU’s campus.

“I do respect the opinions of all concerned, including the Senators, and think healthy debate is what we should be about,” said Tunks.

“This is the thing that’s hard if you’re not in the room to understand,” said Foster. He called the debate “a great discussion” that the faculty took “very seriously.”

As far as his presence during the voting, Tunks said he has attended nearly every Faculty Senate meeting for the past eight and a half years. If Senators had wanted to, they could have called for an executive session, which requires all non-Senators to leave.

“Although I am an ex officio member of the Senate, I would gladly have left if anyone had asked … but nobody asked for that,” said Tunks.

Next week, the South Central Jurisdiction of the United Methodist Church will meet with SMU about leasing campus land for the library, according to a report from The Associated Press.

SMU needs permission to build because the parcel was part of the original 1911 campus. SMU Vice President for External Affairs and Development Brad Cheves has declined to reveal specifics about the deal, saying the site selection committee is also considering locations that wouldn’t require church approval.