Wheaton College to open Hastert Center
The next time Dennis Hastert visits his college alma mater, his name will be on the door.
The former speaker of the House in January donated his congressional papers to the Wheaton College in preparation for his retirement. Now the college will unveil a new academic program and center to house the papers and create an education legacy for Hastert.
The J. Dennis Hastert Center for Economics, Government and Public Policy is scheduled to open in December, college officials announced Wednesday.
A $5 million renovation of the Memorial Student Center will house the program. It will operate under an additional $5 million in endowments.
Hastert himself is not expected to be a mainstay on the campus in Wheaton. He will not teach classes. However, building plans show a conference room in the new center that will double as an office for Hastert.
"He will play an active role within the center, but it is too premature at this point to specifically define as he is still a member of Congress with obligations and commitments to the 14th District," Hastert spokeswoman Lisa Wagner said in a written statement released by the college.
Hastert already has played an active role in raising funds to establish the center.
Once open, the Hastert Center will focus its teachings and research on market economies, representative democracies, limited government and human action rooted in Christianity.
The college's Special Collections department spent the past eight months processing Hastert's congressional papers for public viewing.
The Hastert Center will open before most of the papers are ready for viewing. However, the college will make the papers available in installments.
One of the first installments will be a collection of Sept. 11 memorabilia, which the college will put on display starting at 9 a.m. Saturday at the Billy Graham Center.
Meanwhile, plans for the Hastert Center's ribbon-cutting are not yet finalized.
College officials say they are not sure if Hastert will attend the ceremony. Hastert will retire from Congress in November.
p class="factboxheadblack">Name That Building
Dennis Hastert joins a list of other notable Wheaton College alumni with school buildings bearing their names.
• Billy Graham Center -- named for the Rev. Billy Graham, Class of 1943
• Todd Beamer Center -- named for Todd Beamer, Class of 1991, who died when his plane crashed in Pennsylvania during the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks
• Armerding Hall -- houses the biology, math and physics departments, named for the college's fifth president, Hudson T. Armerding, Class of 1941
• Schell Hall -- houses the Human Needs and Global Resources office, named for Edward R. Schell, Class of 1922
• Breyer Laboratory -- home of the chemistry department, named for John H. Breyer, Class of 1905, and his wife, Georgia, Class of 1901
• Wyngarden Building -- houses the health center and foreign languages department, named for Clarence Wyngarden, Class of 1932