As the first fans were arriving for the spring practice-ending football scrimmage at the University of Colorado practice fields Saturday, I was in a classroom at nearby Hellems Hall.
Along with two other judges, I watched in awe as five students from the Denver School of the Arts staged a dramatic presentation in the Colorado History Day competition for junior- and senior-high students. In a 10-minute play they wrote themselves, “Out of the Shadows of Jim Crow,” they dramatized the Nashville 1960 civil rights “sit-ins.”
They used material not only from archival sources, documentaries and David Halberstam’s “The Children,” but also their own personal interviews with surviving sit-in leaders and participants.
Later in the day, after I had attended the desultory football scrimmage and they had gone through a championship round, the five students – Akil Luqman, Jacob Mundell, Alisha Dawn McKenzie, Jon Shockness and Nick Thorne – accepted the first-place award in their category from Lt. Gov. Jane Norton, a Colorado State graduate.
So what does that have to do with football?
As young men and women from Colorado schools who advanced to the state finals through area qualifying, the competitors in Colorado History Day were exposed to the atmosphere on the CU campus. We all should hope they will attend CU or another in-state university, and then stick around to become the state’s leaders of tomorrow.
Yet given recent events in Boulder, I can’t blame gifted students – including the many gifted Colorado high school students with athletic talent – for having misgivings about CU. That cuts across ethnic lines, because it is a matter of academic prestige, available resources, leadership, commitment and even image.
Football plays a major role. I have a hard time with those who argue that going 12-0 would be worth virtually any cost, in terms of money and even ethical compromises. We’re led to believe it would generate such euphoria, $48.8 million could be raised overnight to build a replacement for rickety Hellems and fund undergraduate scholarships for every worthy needy student in the state. That’s absurd. But it’s just as naive to assume that the embarrassing events of the past year at CU will be quickly forgotten and won’t have a lingering, debilitating effect on the university.
CU is a mess, and there is plenty of blame to go around.
A year ago, I said CU coach Gary Barnett’s firing would enable the university and its administration to redirect the focus back to what was truly important, the academic mission.
Now that he’s the last person standing, after the resignations of athletic director Dick Tharp and president Betsy Hoffman, I’ve been heartened by Barnett’s reaction over the past few months. He hasn’t whined about recruiting restrictions – not much, anyway – and he’s trying to be part of the solution. The recent dismissal of the Title IX-based lawsuits against the university bolstered what many of us have said all along – that if the aggrieved parties wanted to sue someone, going after the university and the taxpayers using Title IX wasn’t the way to do it.
But to argue, as some are doing, that the lawsuit dismissals completely vindicated the football program is just as off target. There were problems with the recruiting process that needed to be fixed, and both CU and to a lesser extent the NCAA itself have been nudged into a correction mode.
Just when it seemed that some of that stench was drifting away, professor Ward Churchill and football financial issues blew it right back. But until someone proves the football camp and Dear Old CU Fund monies were used in manners that could draw penalties from both the NCAA and IRS, Barnett deserves to be cut some slack. Churchill doesn’t.
Churchill’s views are distasteful. Even more bothersome, he took advantage of and distorted the affirmative action and diversity principles that have done so much good. It’s offensive that despite his suspect credentials and transparently elastic ethnicity, Churchill not only was granted tenure, but also became a department chairman.
He wasn’t even intelligent enough to do what a fraud should do, and that’s to maintain a low profile and thus avoid scrutiny.
Finally, there is an undercurrent of dark humor every time Gov. Bill Owens or state legislators pop off about CU and its leadership. The drastic cuts in state funding for higher education mean the rhetoric from Colorado leaders rings hollow.
It’s like me buying a cheeseburger at McDonald’s, then assuming I should have a say in the awarding of the next 82 franchises.
So I hope we all can agree. This state needs to work to restore CU’s image and stature, back to the point where university officials can look History Day winners, or bright running backs with 3.8 grade-point averages, in the eyes and tell them: This is the place for you.
Terry Frei can be contacted at tfrei@denverpost.com or 303-820-1895.
