Gary Harmon, columnist for the Grand Junction Daily Sentinel - on the far west end of the state for those unfamiliar with Colorado - has issued a call to the CU Board of Regents to keep it simple when they choose the university's next president: Misplaced reliance on a long line of bookworms well steeped in the nuances of medieval animal husbandry or Jackson Pollock-brushstroke patterns as revealed in his lesser-known works was what landed higher education in general in the briar patch it now uncomfortably inhabits. CU just happens to be the institution squirming most at the moment. No, what the regents need to look for is the kind of leader who can reintroduce the erudite and sophisticated faculty at CU to some rather rudimentary … [Read more...]
Saving Time AND Money
This morning's Rocky Mountain News reports that candidate searches for university presidents not only often take many months but can also cost a pretty penny: It took seven months and $142,000 to hire a new president last year at the University of Nebraska, a Big 12 school like the University of Colorado. Other public universities spent more in their presidential searches. In the last year, the University at Buffalo in New York spent $219,824 and the University of Iowa $177,204. The University of Michigan spent $334,600 in 2002 to find a top executive. But the Rocky Mountain Alliance is already doing its part to screen potential candidates. A streamlined search process could save officials time and the state's taxpayers … [Read more...]
Official Notice for CU President Candidates
The Rocky Mountain Alliance of Blogs has been solicited for its endorsement of a candidate to replace Elizabeth Hoffman as president of the University of Colorado. On Monday during his radio show, the eminent Hugh Hewitt submitted his name in candidacy. On Tuesday King Banaian of SCSU Scholars also submitted his name in candidacy, specifically requesting the RMA's endorsement. The RMA, as the premier representative of Colorado's new center-right media, will issue its official endorsement for the new CU President on Monday, March 21. The RMA will take into consideration all available posted information on candidate qualifications and is not immune to various forms of flattery and other inducements. Hugh Hewitt is the apparent … [Read more...]
Hewitt After Hoffman’s Job
The ink has barely had time to dry on the story of CU President Elizabeth Hoffman's resignation, and uberblogger Hugh Hewitt has openly declared his candidacy for the job on his nationally-syndicated radio show. Having read off a list of qualifications that include his vast array of personal connections with the state's leading political leaders, Hewitt seems prematurely confident that he would have an inside track for the University of Colorado presidency. Well, this politically active, taxpaying Colorado citizen remains skeptical. Let's just say I need to see and hear more first. After Hoffman's ongoing media fiascos, we need a state university leader who can keep his snowmobile from crashing into trees. Then again, maybe a … [Read more...]
Calif. Education Establishment Bucks Schwarzenegger
There's a lot screwed up with the way the public education system is currently run. Witness recent events in a Berkley, Calif., school district: teachers refuse to work beyond their "contract hours" and thus are not assigning homework to students. Who's to blame? The teachers' union wants an automatic cost-of-living increase and a hefty share of any new money the school district receives. District officials say they sympathize with the union but are pointing fingers at Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger, saying they don't have enough money. The subtext suggests the unions are also flexing their muscle to demonstrate their resistance to Schwarzenegger's proposal to institute teacher performance-based pay and to reform tenure. These … [Read more...]
Teachers’ Union Abuses, Agenda
Do you want just a hint of what the teachers' union will do to get its candidates in office and of what those candidates do to teachers once they're in office? Check out my latest op-ed for the Independence Institute, hot off the presses today. … [Read more...]
Quick Friday Jottings
The Democrat majority in the Colorado legislature revealed their close affinity to the abortion absolutist lobby Thursday. The six Democrats on the House Judiciary Committee killed a bill that would have held medical doctors liable for the abortions of viable human fetuses. It was a moderate measure designed to curb the uncommon but barbaric practice of killing an unborn child that could otherwise survive outside the mother's womb. But we know where the Democrat legislators stand on this issue, beholden as they are to a certain lobby. In less startling news, Ward Churchill is now under investigation for artistic copyright fraud. The habits developed in his professional life carry over into his money-making hobbies, as well. Should … [Read more...]
Trouble for the Teachers Union: The Surface Cracks
Thankfully, someone has decided to take the teachers' union to task. Two parents in the Poudre School District (Fort Collins) have filed a complaint with the Colorado Secretary of State's office against the Poudre Education Association (PEA) for violating the state's Constitution and Fair Campaign Practices Act. The specific charges include: 1. Failure to report coordination of electioneering activities with State Senate candidate Bob Bacon. (You may remember Bacon beat Republican Ft. Collins mayor Ray Martinez in one of 2004's heavily contended races.) 2. Failure to report expenditures compensating volunteers for their work on the Bacon campaign. 3. Using public school district facilities and resources for partisan political … [Read more...]
It Keeps Looking Worse for CU
Why did the University of Colorado rush to award Ward Churchill tenure back in 1991? Was it because the University of California system was courting him? According to a report in today's Rocky Mountain News, that wasn't the case at all, having interviewed an official who was in the know: "He wasn't really a serious candidate because of his lack of credentials," said George Wayne, a former vice president for student academic services at California State University, Sacramento. "The lack of a doctorate was one factor," Wayne said Monday. "Also, he wasn't writing learned articles - they were advocacy articles that could appear anywhere." California got it. So why couldn't Colorado? Wayne thinks CU officials were simply … [Read more...]
What’s Wrong and What’s Right with Colorado High Schools
Michael has begun to unwrap the Sunday Denver Post's commentary section on the state of high school education in Colorado. Michael breaks down each of the three pieces and opens them up for analysis and criticism. … [Read more...]