(August 9, 2007)—Although Baylor University hasn’t withdrawn its bid, Southern Methodist University is the presumptive winner of the sweepstakes for the George W. Bush Presidential Library.

But SMU doesn’t have enough space that meets standards for temporary storage of the president’s records and other materials, the Dallas Morning News reported Thursday.

The Morning News reports that the National Archives and Records Administration is looking for 60,000 feet of space within 25 miles of Dallas to house materials temporarily while the library is under construction.

Since the announcement late last year that the committee formed to select a site for the library was entering into exclusive talks with SMU, the university’s bid has hit some speed bumps.

Some faculty members have gone public with concerns and a group of US Methodist ministers launched a petition drive, saying "as United Methodists, we believe that the linking of his presidency with a university bearing the Methodist name is utterly inappropriate."

SMU officials have dismissed criticism and say the library and an associated think tank would be a boon both for the university and for Dallas.

Meanwhile SMU is still fighting a lawsuit filed by evicted condominium owner Gary Vodicka who alleges the university used fraud and intimidation to oust him from the University Gardens condos near campus in order to acquire the site for the Bush library.

Vodicka is a lawyer in University Park.

SMU denies the allegations, but Vodicka has argued that SMU’s proposal for the library will show that the university always intended for the library to be built on the condo site.

SMU, however, has refused to release its proposal, claiming that it’s private and that it doesn’t want to share details with potential competitors.

Last month, Dallas County District Judge Martin Hoffman ruled that Baylor must answer about a dozen written questions about the university’s bid for the library.

Vodicka wants to ask BU officials whether they think Baylor’s bid for the library is still alive and whether Baylor would be interested in seeing SMU’s proposal.

If the answer is “no,” then Vodicka argues that SMU should release its plans, because there’s no longer a competitor that could benefit from details of the proposal.

Baylor’s attorney, the Morning News reported, refused to concede the library to SMU and said the school is still waiting for a final formal announcement about the selection of a site.

Hoffman, the paper reports, called Baylor an “innocent party” in the dispute, but said Vodicka could ask about a dozen written questions.

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