The University of Illinois at Chicago (UIC) has formed a committee which will attempt to acquire President Barack Obama's Presidential Library, USA Today reported.
UIC spokesman Bill Burton confirmed Friday that chancellor Paula Allen-Meares decided to form the committee in May. Burton did not say who would serve on the committee, but it's set to bid on the museum and library that will be built after Obama finishes his final term.
Neither Burton nor Allen-Meares commented on what actions, if any, the committee has taken so far to achieve their goal.
It's not customary for sitting presidents to reveal where they would like their library built and Obama has not given any indication himself. The National Archives and Records Administration (NARA) privately funds construction of presidential libraries and Obama has yet to signal for supporters to begin fund raising.
Building these libraries, which store a president's records and chronicles their time in office as a museum, is a large undertaking and has caused universities to begin fund raising earlier.
Chicago State University (CSU), a historically black school, formed a similar committee in May and will also raise funds to host Obama's Presidential Library. Numerous schools in Chicago, where Obama grew up, and in Hawaii, his birthplace, have began fund raising.
CSU president Wayne Watson has told some of his senior university officials to discuss with the NARA what the fund raising process entails.
"His political roots are right here on the South Side, pretty much in a 2-mile radius of where we are," Watson told USA Today earlier this week. "Secondly, President Obama represents hope... If there is one community in Chicago that needs to have hope reinforced, it's the community where the president got his start."
The University of Chicago is also reportedly forming a committee of their own, while the University of Hawaii launched their initiative to have Obama's library built in his birthplace.
Presidential libraries have the potential to provide an economic boom for the hosting community by attracting large amounts of visitors. Opened in 2004, the William J. Clinton Library in Little Rock, Ark. has sparked $1 billion in real estate investments. Dallas Visitors and Convention Bureau CEO Phillip Jones has projected the George W. Bush Library to generate $50 million for the local economy.