Tag: Higher Education

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.

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.

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.

The shadowy process through which the Colorado State University board came to nominate Joe Blake, its own vice chairman, for chancellor was a topic of concern even within the chancellor search committee itself and it was the motivation for the only no vote cast Tuesday against Blake's candidacy.

The search for Colorado State University's first-ever chancellor has become positively Cheney-esque in its intrigue and now possible law-breaking by the Board of Governors. Bob Moore at the Coloradoan has the goods on the selection of CSU Board of Governors Vice Chairman Joe Blake as its chancellor-finalist.

The Colorado State University Board of Governors named CSU Board Vice President Joe Blake its sole finalist for chancellor on Tuesday just hours after Senate Majority Leader Brandon Shaffer killed a bill he co-sponsored that demanded greater transparency in the state's public university leadership appointments.

The Colorado State University Chancellor Search Committee has reportedly landed on either a preferred candidate or a narrowed list from a rumored 24 applications to fill the new top executive position. Except nobody knows for sure -- the relative secrecy and speed of the process and the questionable timing have raised concerns among observers, faculty and students.

The Colorado State University chancellor search committee is meeting this afternoon to review a second round of roughly 12 candidate applications for the university's new top spot. The committee reviewed a first set of about the same number of applications last month, according to CSU spokesperson Michele McKinney. So far, none of the names of the candidates for the position have been revealed.

The Colorado House today voted to advance legislation introduced suddenly this week by House Majority Leader Paul Weissmann and Senate Majority Leader Brandon Shaffer that calls for greater transparency in filling leadership positions at the state's public universities. The bill faces a key second vote on Monday, so, as Rep. Weissmann warned, "The universities will be working hard this weekend to defeat it."

Responding to news of the veiled chancellor search being conducted by Colorado State University, House Majority Leader Paul Weissmann and Senate Majority Leader Brandon Shaffer introduced legislation yesterday demanding greater transparency in the way the state's public universities select leaders.