Former U.S. Sen. Hank Brown will take the reins of the University of Colorado today, bringing with him ideas about changing the school’s alcohol policy, the role of the school’s foundation and the location of the president’s office.
But Brown’s primary mission will be a bit trickier to accomplish – bringing the school out of nearly two years of scandal and restoring the focus to education and research at the state’s flagship school.
David Longanecker, executive director of the Boulder-based Western Interstate Commission for Higher Education, said Brown has such respect among Colorado officials and citizens that he would have to make a major mistake to face the kind of criticism that forced Betsy Hoffman to resign.
“What the school needs right now is a cooling-off period,” he said. “It’s going to be hard for the people of Colorado to take Hank on without good reason. They’ll have a hard time treating Hank the way they treated Betsy.”
Brown, 65, will take over for Hoffman, who in March announced her resignation as president after struggling with scandals that included controversial statements made by CU professor Ward Churchill and the use of sex and alcohol in the football recruiting program.
Investigations into the recruiting scandal found no evidence of CU’s involvement in the questionable practices.
Churchill’s future will be decided by the Standing Committee on Research Misconduct, an intracampus panel established to carry out CU administrative policy. It could take the committee more than a year to determine whether Churchill plagiarized and misrepresented his work.
That gives Brown an 18-month window to restore the public’s faith in CU. “Our challenge is to inspire confidence,” said Brown, who left his job as head of the Daniels Fund, Colorado’s largest nonprofit foundation, to take over the school while regents look for a permanent president. “People will find me open and willing to listen.”
Among the intiatives Brown has discussed is moving the president’s office out of Boulder to be closer to legislators and top Denver business leaders.
He also said he will re-examine whether state and tuition money should be used to buy alcohol for administrators’ official functions and dinners, as well as whether the CU Foundation should be limited to investing money, while CU would take responsibility for raising it.
Brown also said he will review reports by a grand jury and an independent committee on the football scandal to determine whether anyone in the football program, including coach Gary Barnett, needs to be disciplined or replaced.
While Brown said that all of his ideas for change will come out after he takes office, he does not foresee a major restructuring of the kind he did at the Daniels Fund or as president of the University of Northern Colorado.
But he did not rule out staff cuts or position changes.
“What I want to do is take a fresh look at the way we do business and our staffing needs,” he said.
While Brown is known for cutting staff, Rod Muth, chairman of the CU Faculty Council, said he does not fear Brown’s cost-cutting reputation.
“It’s more of a wait and see,” Muth said. “He has a history of cutting administrators, and he put that money back into faculty salaries. A lot of faculty are pleased about that.”
Brown said his first priority will be working with the governor, legislators and reporters to make sure there are no communications breakdowns – a stance the CU regents welcome.
“From his experience, he knows how critical it is to be trustworthy and reliable,” said Regent Steve Bosley.
In June, resigning president Hoffman sparked a month-long controversy when she proposed increasing tuition by 28 percent for most in-state undergraduate students. That was after Gov. Bill Owens made it clear that he would not support a large increase for in-state students.
Colorado Commission on Higher Education executive director Rick O’Donnell said he doesn’t know whether Brown would have handled the tuition situation differently, but he expects the school’s worst days are in the past.
“CU is going from a crisis management mode to a rebuilding mode,” said O’Donnell. “What we consider some of our top priorities, Hank supports.”
Owens wants to see CU keep tuition and state funding low while improving core education and dealing with the school’s scandals.
And legislators agree that Brown, who served in the U.S. House and Senate, will be prepared for the state Capitol.
“He’ll have the common sense to look at things a little differently,” said state House Minority Leader Joe Stengel, a Littleton Republican who called for Hoffman’s resignation after she said there was a new McCarthyism in America during a talk about Churchill. “It’s not just us sending more money and everything will be OK. He’ll know you can do more with less.”
Hoffman, through a spokeswoman, declined repeated requests for an interview.
Despite being of different political parties, regent Michael Carrigan said Brown, a Republican, will do a good job though he expects the two won’t agree on everything.
“He’s a fiscal conservative, and in these tight budget times, it’s important to make some changes,” he added.
Brown has agreed to serve only as acting president until the regents find a permanent replacement for Hoffman, but he keeps open the possibility of taking over full time if the regents select him.
The regents courted Brown shortly after Hoffman’s resignation, but he was reluctant to take the job without full support from regents and legislators.
The regents unanimously welcomed Brown, and after a misunderstanding about his support among Democratic legislators was cleared up, Brown took the job.
The regents chose the perfect person to turn CU around, Longanecker said.
“The regents were looking for somebody to sort of clear these muddy waters,” he said. “It was very smart to do that.”
Staff writer Arthur Kane can be reached at 303-820-1626 or akane@denverpost.com.
Hank Brown
PROFESSIONAL
Vice president, Monfort of Colorado, 1969-1980
U.S. representative, Republican, 1981-1991
U.S. senator, Republican, 1991-1997
Co-director, Center for Public Policy and Contemporary Issues, University of Denver, 1997-1998
President, University of Northern Colorado, 1998-2002
President, Daniels Fund, 2002-2005
Acting president, University of Colorado,
2005- ?
PERSONAL
Colorado native; age 65; University of Colorado, bachelor of science (1961) and law (1969) degrees
Family: wife, Nan; three children
Source: Biographical Directory of U.S. Congress
