(December 15, 2006)—Texas Monthly Magazine Senior Executive Editor Paul Burka has posted excerpts from a letter on his blog in which “Faculty, Administrators & Staff of the Perkins School of Theology” urge Southern Methodist University President R. Gerald Turner to “reconsider and to rescind SMU’s pursuit of the (George W. Bush) presidential library.”

Baylor University and the University of Dallas are also competing for the library.

The letter, Burka wrote, is circulating both on and off the SMU campus.

"We count ourselves among those who would regret to see SMU enshrine attitudes and actions widely deemed as ethically egregious: degradation of habeas corpus, outright denial of global warming, flagrant disregard for international treaties, alienation of long-term U.S. allies, environmental predation, shameful disrespect for gay persons and their rights, a pre-emptive war based on false and misleading premises, and a host of other erosions of respect for the global human community and for this good Earth on which our flourishing depends,” the letter posted on Burka’s blog says.

Click Here For Paul Burka’s Blog

In November, the New York Daily News reported that the president’s closest backers are poised to begin raising $500 million to pay for construction of a presidential library and think tank at SMU, which is the first lady’s alma mater.

But on Nov. 29, Dan Bartlett who serves as counselor to the president told CBS White House Correspondent Bill Plante that no decision has been made about a site and no fundraising effort has begun.

Backers of Baylor’s bid for the library had already discounted the newspaper report, calling it rumor.

Baylor has made a major push for the library and set aside a tract of land along the Brazos River for the facility.

In August the first lady said a site for the library probably wouldn’t be selected until the end of the year.

Click Here For White House Web Site

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