The Daily Update: Thursday, April 22

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The Daily Update: Wednesday, April 21

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Opinion Blog: Bush Institute Should Start Acting Like a Good Neighbor

Posted by Brooks Powell

The George W. Bush Presidential Center won’t be complete until 2012. But already SMU students feel like they’re getting the shaft.

All accounts leading up to the announcement that the library and institute would be built at SMU said it would be open and available to everyone. Now, officials with the Institute are backtracking on that claim, specifically for conferences and events. SMU students wishing to attend are out of luck unless they’re willing to chip in a few grand to secure a spot on the invitation list.

James K. Glassman, the 63 year-old executive director of the George W. Bush Institute, told SMU’s Student Senate in March about his vision for the think-tank and how it will relate to the greater SMU community. He enticed those present with details of upcoming conferences held on the SMU campus and around Dallas, many including national and international figures addressing a range of topics.

At the meeting, Glassman introduced Oscar Morales, a Colombian journalist and Bush Institute Fellow. Morales will lead a conference on April 19 on “cyber-dissidents” and political change, highlighting the role of online tools and social media in promoting democracy around the world.

What students listening to Glassman’s rhetoric didn’t know was that he was setting them up for a cruel “gotcha.”

With some prodding, Glassman admitted Bush Institute conferences will be largely invitation-only, adding that “some” SMU students will be allowed to attend. The majority of attendees will be dignitaries, donors and special guests of the Institute.

In other words, unless a student’s bank ledger has a hefty entry labeled “George W. Bush Institute,” he or she shouldn’t count on a spot at one of these conferences. Note that Glassman is also in charge of raising money for the Institute.

Brushing off SMU students is unacceptable given the sacrifices the community has made to welcome the Bush Presidential Library and Institute to campus.

Students and faculty moved out of convenient on-campus housing, which was bulldozed to clear a site for the Bush Center. The University also paid untold sums to holdouts in the University Gardens development to clear more land. With tuition increasing by at least 5 percent each year, all that settlement money could have been used to keep tuition costs down if SMU hadn’t engaged in the quest for the Bush Library in the first place.

But hindsight is 20/20 and the Bush Center will indeed be a fixture at SMU.

Glassman joked to the Student Senate about the Bushes having a 300 year lease on the library building that will be built at the southeastern end of campus.

In the interest of getting this long-term relationship off on the right foot, an about-face is needed, and quickly. With two years until the Bush complex is scheduled to open, there is plenty of time for Glassman and his colleagues to work out how to accommodate more SMU students at the Institute’s conferences and events.

For years, SMU has been a celebrated destination in the southwestern United States for some of the greatest minds from around the world. Clearly, SMU recognizes the value imparted to inquisitive minds by listening to experts, and opportunities for such exposure abound. Just not at the Bush Institute, or at least not yet.

Speaking in his capacity as fundraiser-in-chief, Glassman said donations are on-track for the Bush Center. If that’s so, what harm will opening up a few seats do to the campaign’s momentum? Donors conversing with some exceptionally bright students might get them to donate more money.

If space is a concern, Glassman needn’t look far for a suitably-sized location to host more than just his exclusive audience. SMU has a number of large venues that were designed specifically to hold audiences for presentations and lectures, including several that are brand new.

There truly aren’t any excuses that Glassman and his ilk can defend. Money and space are the only limiting factors, and those are easily resolved. It’s time to open the doors and let students in.

This is a crucial period for the future relationship between SMU and the Bush Center. Hopefully, leaders in the Bush entourage will see the value of including students in the life of the library and institute. Otherwise, one begins to wonder why they chose to affiliate with a university in the first place.

Bush Partners with Maguire Energy Institute to Host “Natural Gas Nation”

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Campus News Blog: Bush continues tradition of dry humor

Posted by Chris Dell

Here’s a sampling of some witty George W. Bush humor, on display Thursday in his speech at McFarlin Auditorium.

Bush strolled onto stage with his wife, Laura, and opened his speech with a dry joke:

“It’s great to be up here sharing the stage with Laura. She has been an awesome partner for me for the last 32 years… and seven days.”

He continued the family jokes in his opening monologue: “I think (Laura’s) the best former first lady in the nation’s history. But I better be careful, there’s competition in the family.”

“As you may have heard, (Bush’s daughter Jenna) is also a correspondent for the Today Show, which continues the Bush family’s history of warm relations with the press.”

Lastly, he poked fun at those who criticized his lack of scholastic achievement at Yale University, where he completed his undergraduate work:

“It is pretty cool to be back on a college campus as a 63-year-old. I enjoy popping in on class from time to time. Come to think of it, that was my strategy as a student.”

Global News Blog: Iraq shoe thrower ‘was tortured’

Posted by Sydney Holt

You may remember the somewhat comical video of the Iraqi journalist who threw not one, but two, shoes at former US President George W. Bush that surfaced about one year ago. BBC News is reporting that shortly after his release from a Baghdad prison, Muntadar al-Zaidi, is claiming he was tortured. He demanded an apology; however, Iraqi officials told the BBC his claims should be investigated.

His protest last December made him a hero for many Arabs. He has reportedly received offers of money, jobs and even marriage from across the Arab world. While watching the BBC world news tonight, I couldn’t help but wonder how Americans would feel if a fellow American assaulted a foreign leader. I think I would feel embarrassed that such important world issues were being overshadowed by a childish act of violence. I feel like as SMU students we are taught to speak our mind confidently, but also to respect others. Watching this video reminds me of the old phrase, “Actions speak louder than words.” Not many people remember Zaidi speaking for the widows and orphans killed in Iraq, all we remember is the guy who threw his shoes.

Muntadar al-Zaidi was sentenced to three years in jail. But he had the term reduced to 12 months on appeal and was released three months early for good behavior. His family plans to throw him a welcome home party. Bush’s reaction: “It was amusing – I’ve seen a lot of weird things during my presidency, and this may rank up there as one of the weirdest.”

Campus News Blog: DMN Reports on Bush and Rice Meeting

Posted by Morgan Maddox

By now the majority of SMU students have heard of George W. Bush and Condoleezza Rice’s visit to SMU on Tuesday. According to an article in the Dallas Morning News, the two, along with Laura Bush and other former White House advisers, were having a meeting to discuss how to organize and present Bush’s policy institute.

No public statements were made after the meeting. However, Mark Langdale, president of the Bush Foundation was quoted in the article stating, “there was a strong desire on the part of President Bush and Laura to marry academic research and study with some sort of real-world application.” My questions is: Aren’t we already suppose to be doing this? This idea is nothing new.

In all of our classes we are supposed to be learning material and then applying it to the real-world. That is why we are in college, to prepare for the real-world. If the policy institute was not using academic research and study and applying it to real-world situations, then it would be failing to prepare students for the future.

George W. Bush and Condoleezza Rice at SMU

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