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Baylor U.'s Hopes for Bush Library Become Entangled in Lawsuit Against SMU

Now, like a sixth grader caught scribbling “BU + GWB” in a notebook, Baylor officials will apparently be forced to confess their daydreams [of hosting the Bush library] in public. A Texas judge on Monday instructed the university to answer questions about whether it believes its library proposal is a dead letter, the Dallas Morning News reported today.

The unusual ruling arose in a lawsuit filed against SMU by Gary Vodicka, a Dallas resident who asserts that the university improperly used eminent domain to buy and destroy the condominium complex where he lived in order to clear land for the library.

Mr. Vodicka would like SMU to turn over records of its library-planning process. Baylor is not a party to his lawsuit, but it was dragged into the quarrel because Mr. Vodicka believes that if Baylor’s library proposal is truly dead, then SMU has no legitimate reason to keep its library plans confidential.
Read entire article at Chronicle of Higher Education (CHE)