CU in Crisis

Some issues seem fairly easy to solve. There is a right or wrong, or a "my side or your side." Somebody wins and somebody loses. But when a major institution like Colorado University is under attack there are no easy answers.

I spent four years at CU and loved it. I graduated with a first class education and a deep loyalty to the school. Through the years I have assumed (naively as it turns out) that it would continue to be the flagship university in Colorado and that it would be respected as an essential state institution. It has earned a top intellectual reputation.

But now CU is being threatened from all directions. The football scandal has probably been reported as far away as Siberia. Certainly it is big news around here. The Commission appointed by the Regents is to issue its report today. Whatever it says, it will not please everyone -- or maybe anyone. If the women were raped, it was a crime and the men need to be punished. But the whole thing has gone on so long that it is extremely difficult to determine the truth. In any case, luring recruits with women and booze is not acceptable behavior, even for a winning football team, and even though it is done by teams across the country. King football is not above the need for responsible behavior. The team as a whole has hurt the whole University, although I am sure many members are innocent. Many parents are protesting and the fans are screaming. Naturally I don't have any answers, but I suspect if I were in charge I would fire the coach and give a lot less scholarships and require at least a C average from all the players. For that sentence I will probably get more mail than if I had typed the word "Hillary."

But the major problem is money. A major target of the Lege for several years has been the state's institutions of higher learning. In 1990 state money provided 25% of CU's budget. By 2003 was 9.8%. Massachusetts, is the only state in the union which has cut higher education funding more than we have. I get the feeling that Gov. Owens and the current Legislature would be perfectly happy to see all the higher education campuses in the state turned into parking areas, or jails.

There has been talk of closing some of colleges, and CU is looking into the possibility of becoming a private institution. "We are headed for a train wreck," said Betsy Hoffman, President of CU. She comments that the problems of the football team must be solved, and will be. But the team will survive. As to the University, however, she is not so sure. "In the long run this is much more serious. Nothing less than the future of public higher education in the state is at stake."