BOSTON (AP) – A lasting legacy to U.S. Sen. Edward Kennedy’s decades of public service may soon rise on the shore of Boston Harbor, near his brother’s presidential library.
Negotiations are now under way between Kennedy’s staff and the University of Massachusetts, according to school officials. The Center for Study of the Senate, proposed for four acres facing the John F. Kennedy Library and Museum at the University’s Boston campus, would house a new academic program based on the senator’s papers and would ultimately bear his name.
The papers themselves would be stored next door at the library, where archive space would be expanded as part of a separate but related agreement.
“We think of this as a major coup,” said UMass-Boston Chancellor Jo Ann Gora. “He arguably has had the most significant impact on the development of major policy issues of any senator in the 20th century.”
Kennedy’s office would not comment on the negotiations, but a source close to the senator said that discussions of a legacy should not be taken as a sign that the liberal standard-bearer, now 71, is planning to leave the Senate when his current term expires.
“He’s running in 2006,” said the source, who spoke on condition of anonymity.
A memorandum of understanding about the dedication of the papers and the expansion of the library will likely be presented to the Board of Trustees for approval at its Nov. 5 meeting, Gora said. While the JFK Library is operated by the federal government, it is located on UMass property at Columbia Point and must receive approval from the university to expand.
The specific details of the program and the building that will house it have not yet been finalized, Gora said.
In general terms, however, the new center will augment the public policy programs that already exist on the Boston campus, including the McCormack Institute of Public Affairs, she said.
“One of the things that facilitated the conversations was the synergy,” Gora said. “The senator has represented an urban constituency for his entire career and we have a big emphasis at this institution on policy issues that affect urban populations.”
Special areas of focus will likely be education, civil rights, labor, health care and the environment.
Kennedy was first elected in 1962, based primarily on the popularity of his brother in the Oval Office. Weathering many scandals since then, Kennedy has been re-elected seven times and emerged as a leading Democratic voice in Washington.
Negotiations with UMass-Boston began more than a year ago, according to university officials.
Leading the negotiations for Kennedy is Paul Kirk, who previously worked as the senator’s chief of staff and is currently the chairman of the John F. Kennedy Library Foundation. Kirk did not return calls seeking comment.
The John F. Kennedy Library was dedicated in 1979 and houses the papers of the 35th president as well as a museum and education center.
AP-ES-10-01-03 1737EDT
Send questions/comments to the editors.
