Scenester Joe Blake preps for CSU chancellorship

The Denver Post celebrity sighting column caught soon-to-be Colorado State University Chancellor Joe Blake already beginning some of the work he has been hired to do for the school.

According to the Post, 73-year-old Blake stepped out Tuesday night in Denver for cocktails and dinner with local movers and shakers — exactly the kind of people the board at CSU is depending on Blake to summon out of the depths of his Rolodex and tap to help solve the ongoing funding crisis at the land-grant university.

CSU lawyers file lawyerly defense in open-meetings suit

In papers submitted to a Larimer court last night, Colorado State University attorneys argue that CSU board members did not break state transparency laws when they voted in private to make board Vice Chair Joe Blake CSU chancellor because Blake had recused himself as Vice Chair roughly a week before the vote.

Recession education: Tuition and enrollment up across state

It’s a bad time to be raising university administration costs. It’s a good time to be streamlining administration and expanding recruitment efforts and student-funding options.

On Friday, Colorado officials formally asked the federal government for $760 million in stimulus money to save education programs and jobs threatened by this year’s record budget shortfalls.

Do-over: CSU embraces transparency in latest search

Has something changed at Colorado State University in the wake of the secretive chancellor search that yielded one candidate and accusations of cronyism? The chancellor search that has so far generated campus protest petitions, a scotched state transparency law, an open-meetings lawsuit and an ethics-watchdog coalition backlash? Maybe.

The university today announced three applicant finalists for CSU Chief of Police. Note that: three finalists; not one. And that’s not all. The university has made the names of the applicants public so you can look into their background and qualifications. Also, the applicants are going to be asked to come to campus to meet with the CSU “campus and larger community” before any of the three of them are named Chief.

CSU announces more layoffs; chancellor salary to be announced

The Coloradoan reports today on the latest round of job cuts announced at Colorado State University. The university’s engineering department plans to slash 5 percent of its budget this year, or roughly $700,000. Among the cost-cutting measures, the department would eliminate six existing jobs and significantly shrink the rolls of teaching assistants, who conduct the lion’s share of lab sections at the school.

Today’s announcement won’t be the last of its kind from CSU. The university’s departments will be posting plans in waves over the next month as the university wrestles with record budget shortfalls.

Watchdog coalition demands CSU halt chancellor hire, wants search restarted

Three Colorado watchdog groups have joined together to demand Colorado State University rescind its decision to hire Denver Chamber of Commerce President Joe Blake as the university’s new standalone chancellor.

Judge says reason exists to believe CSU broke laws in Blake selection

Larimer County Judge Stephen Schapanski this morning agreed with attorneys for three media outlets suing Colorado State University, saying that in light of the evidence so far presented there is sufficient reason to believe the CSU Board violated state open-meeting laws when it selected Board Vice Chairman Joe Blake as the only finalist for the new university chancellor position.

Blake on CSU chancellor search critics: Press can say what they want

In an interview with the Colorado State University board just hours before he was selected sole finalist for the university’s new standalone chancellorship, Colorado business leader and CSU Board Vice Chairman Joe Blake generally dismissed perceptions that the search had been mishandled in a way that left observers with reason to suspect cronyism.

Blake skirted formal CSU chancellor search process, selected 6 days later

The Coloradoan today reports more evidence that the Colorado State University System board and Joe Blake likely violated state laws by meeting secretly to discuss his application for the chancellorship. Blake formally submitted his application for the position the same day of a closed April 29 meeting with the head of the CSU governing board. Blake, then-vice chair of the board, was named sole finalist for the chancellor position by the board a week later.

While CU cuts exec salaries, CSU hires chancellor and hikes tuition

As Colorado State University prepares to hire a top executive at the school, expanding its administration significantly, it appears University of Colorado President Bruce Benson is taking the state’s leading research university in the other direction, eliminating 54 administrative offices and slashing executive pay to cut a total of $6.2 million from the university’s $39 million operating budget.