Editorial_SMU has difficult decision to make
Issue date: 3/5/07 Section: Opinion
For the United States, as a democratic society, to continue to be a primary example of intellectual innovation and progress, a free exchange of ideas is absolutely necessary. Since the inception of our country, we have been a major contributor to global intellectual discourse and have worked hard to spread ideas we champion. We have endured considerable costs - blood spilled, money spent and allies lost - to spread capitalism and democracy. From the days of bona fide American imperialism to the present form of economic neo-imperialism, we have spared no effort to make sure that there are more of "us" than "them" - and we've done a damn good job of it. These tenets of American political culture could never have developed without a healthy exchange of ideas and opinion.
Sadly, the very process that produced the ideas we hold so dear is being stifled. Little more than five years ago, President Bush issued an executive order granting himself - and former presidents - executive authority over their presidential papers. The order circumvents both the Freedom of Information Act and the Presidential Records Act, passed in 1974 and 1978, respectively. The PRA, which was passed to defy Richard Nixon's attempt to bury embarrassing documents and recordings, made presidential papers and recording property of the government and not the president in question. Simply put, the bill made presidential papers a matter of public record. Without access to documents, it becomes much more difficult to learn from our nation's mistakes - of which Bush can claim many - and to accurately write history.
Academia plays a large part in the broad process of exchanging ideas as well as the specific process of writing history. Without access to these papers, both are hindered. Southern Methodist University, the school favored to host the George W. Bush Presidential Library, can take a stand against the limitations placed on information exchange by the President. A presidential library with a limited number of documents is a useless one. Allowing the president to choose which documents are included will undoubtedly lead to a library without documents he might consider embarrassing to his administration. These are the documents of most value to researchers. Declining to host the library and, in the process, refusing the benefits of hosting a presidential library, will send a clear message to the President. By accepting these restrictions as the campus hosting the library, SMU will facilitate these egregious limitations to information and tarnish its reputation as an institution of higher learning.
Though many of us will never travel to Bush's presidential library, wherever it ends up, in search of access to presidential archives, free access to them is necessary for scholars and journalists to accurately analyze our political history. Furthermore, if the order is not repealed, future presidents will have a tyrannical degree of power over what their citizens know and don't know - over what information the lens of history can focus upon.
Critics of government are often labeled conspiracy theorists until they are proven to be right. Without unfettered access to presidential records, academia will quickly be reduced to a lot of conspiracy theorists with no hope of vindication. SMU must join ranks with those members of congress already fighting to nullify the President's executive order and preserve the dignity of our nation.
Sadly, the very process that produced the ideas we hold so dear is being stifled. Little more than five years ago, President Bush issued an executive order granting himself - and former presidents - executive authority over their presidential papers. The order circumvents both the Freedom of Information Act and the Presidential Records Act, passed in 1974 and 1978, respectively. The PRA, which was passed to defy Richard Nixon's attempt to bury embarrassing documents and recordings, made presidential papers and recording property of the government and not the president in question. Simply put, the bill made presidential papers a matter of public record. Without access to documents, it becomes much more difficult to learn from our nation's mistakes - of which Bush can claim many - and to accurately write history.
Academia plays a large part in the broad process of exchanging ideas as well as the specific process of writing history. Without access to these papers, both are hindered. Southern Methodist University, the school favored to host the George W. Bush Presidential Library, can take a stand against the limitations placed on information exchange by the President. A presidential library with a limited number of documents is a useless one. Allowing the president to choose which documents are included will undoubtedly lead to a library without documents he might consider embarrassing to his administration. These are the documents of most value to researchers. Declining to host the library and, in the process, refusing the benefits of hosting a presidential library, will send a clear message to the President. By accepting these restrictions as the campus hosting the library, SMU will facilitate these egregious limitations to information and tarnish its reputation as an institution of higher learning.
Though many of us will never travel to Bush's presidential library, wherever it ends up, in search of access to presidential archives, free access to them is necessary for scholars and journalists to accurately analyze our political history. Furthermore, if the order is not repealed, future presidents will have a tyrannical degree of power over what their citizens know and don't know - over what information the lens of history can focus upon.
Critics of government are often labeled conspiracy theorists until they are proven to be right. Without unfettered access to presidential records, academia will quickly be reduced to a lot of conspiracy theorists with no hope of vindication. SMU must join ranks with those members of congress already fighting to nullify the President's executive order and preserve the dignity of our nation.
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