DALLAS (AP) - Southern Methodist University's top official is trying to allay concerns that pro-Bush politics might spread through campus as it hosts the George W. Bush presidential library.
President Gerald Turner is mindful of reports that President Bush wants a conservative think tank to join his library.
SMU was named last month as the sole finalist to land the library. Since then, students and professors critical of Bush's administration have raised questioned about the university's prospective relationship.
In an e-mail sent to faculty, staff and students Friday, Turner wrote that the library's public policy institute would report to a separate foundation - not the university.
Turner wrote that the relationship would be unlike the conservative-leaning Hoover Institution at Stanford University, which reports to Stanford. He also notes that scholars and visiting professors shared among the library and SMU would be appointed through university's standard hiring procedures.
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