United Methodists who don't want President George W. Bush's library complex at Southern Methodist University are expected to launch a last-ditch effort today to try to prevent it from being built on church-owned land.

A regional mission council of the United Methodist Church has given SMU permission to go forward with the library. But some delegates to the South Central Jurisdictional Conference, which is meeting in Dallas this week, insist the mission council does not have the final say.

The conference begins today and continues through Saturday. SMU President Gerald Turner will speak to the group Thursday.

A showdown on the issue has been brewing for months.

The Methodist church's South Central Jurisdiction, which owns SMU, is a regional body which meets every four years. 

The George W. Bush Presidential Center is envisioned as a three-part complex, featuring a library, a museum and a public policy insitute. Most of the opposition from Methodists has been focused on the insitute. Supporters, including President Bush himself, say the institute will be an independent research facilitiy. But critics fear it will be a partisan think tank.