UPDATE FOR SMU PETITION SIGNERS May 22, 2008

I am Andrew J. Weaver, organizer of the petition at www.protectSMU.org and an ordained United Methodist clergyman and research psychologist. I am a graduate of Southern Methodist University (SMU) and live in New York City. There are over 11,900 petition signers from every state and ten nations.

Thank you for your support

Contributors to our legal fund have all given permission to use their donations to design and implement a professional educational and advocacy campaign opposing the Bush institute at SMU. The campaign will seek to raise public awareness during the next several weeks about plans to create a partisan institute having no oversight by the university and being planned under the guidance of Bush political operative Karl Rove.

Our goal is to persuade South Central Jurisdiction delegates to reject the SMU/Bush foundation lease proposal when they meet in Dallas at the Hilton Anatole Hotel, July 15-19. We will also seek to convince the “court of public opinion” through the media that the SMU-Bush linkage is injurious to both SMU and the United Methodist Church (UMC) that owns the university.

The campaign will entail an intensive public relations effort incorporating print, internet, fax, radio, TV and advertising. It will include designing and uploading a high-quality website with blog and interactive capability. It will also involve creating and circulating a media kit for print and broadcast distribution as well as a quality delegate information kit.

The campaign is being designed and implemented by P&S Associates of Maine LLC (PSA), publication and communications specialists whose CEO is Stephen Swecker. Mr. Swecker is a United Methodist clergyman and award-winning religious journalist and editor. PSA provides publication services for The Progressive Christian (recently named North America’s best general interest religious magazine by the Associated Church Press) and United Methodist NeXus, an online newsletter and recipient of ACP’s Award of Merit.

If you wish to make a donation to the educational and advocacy campaign fund, please send it to Rev. Bob Weathers, 2420 Willington Avenue, Fort Worth, Texas 76110. Rev. Weathers is a highly regarded member of the Central Texas Conference and a former District Superintendent. Please make checks to “Protect SMU Fund.” The more money we have available, the more robust the campaign can be.

Growing the Petition

Finally, please continue to encourage your friends and colleagues to sign the petition. Each name is important. We need to tell officials of the UMC at every level that we find that a partisan institute honoring George W. Bush at SMU to be “utterly unacceptable.”

With best regards,

Rev. Andrew J. Weaver, Ph.D.

P.S. Links to more Information on the SMU Bush Project :

http://www.dailykos.com/story/2008/2/1/21101/89550/470/448029

www.usnews.com/blogs/faith-matters/2008/2/4/tempest-in-a-texas-teapot.html

http://bushlibraryblog.wordpress.com/2007/04/23/dallas-historian-reflects-on-bush-complex-debate-smu-history/

http://bushlibraryblog.wordpress.com/2007/02/22/nebraska-history-professor-weighs-in-on-smus-stature-and-the-bush-complex/

http://www.dallasobserver.com/2007-02-08/news/w-and-us/

http://bushlibraryblog.wordpress.com/2007/03/14/report-on-methodist-council-meeting/

http://bushlibraryblog.files.wordpress.com/2007/03/mccrossenpresentation.ppt

http://media.www.smudailycampus.com/media/storage/paper949/news/2007/03/02/Opinion/A.Gulf.Between.Institutions-2753825.shtml