Mere minutes into his presidency, Hank Brown brandished his presidential sword – one side style and the other side substance. The announcement that he was eliminating 10 positions in his office at the University of Colorado was carefully crafted to get Brown’s tenure off to a thundering start, warming the hearts of those counting on him to make big changes.
It also had echoes of the two buzzwords most closely associated with Brown: transparency and accountability. He was hired to restore CU’s reputation and credibility by making the school more accountable to its students and taxpayers, and by making changes through a transparent and open process. After all, Brown was hired not only to help calm CU’s choppy waters, but also to put the university on sure footing for the presidential search yet to come.
Yesterday’s cuts are expected to be just the beginning of the cost-saving measures Brown announces in the coming weeks as he scrutinizes CU’s overall budget.
Brown has inherited a very public to-do list, everything from solving CU’s binge-drinking problems to making Ward Churchill disappear. But many of the things Brown will do over the next 30 days to gain momentum for his presidency aren’t on the public radar. He’ll want to shift some of the spotlight away from Boulder, showing Coloradans there’s more to CU’s four-campus system than the flagship. A tour of the emerging health sciences campus at Fitzsimons and a working testimonial to the growing Colorado Springs campus would shift some attention to two of CU’s bright spots.
Some less-public moves should be taken as soon as practicable. Brown will reach out to alumni and other donors who have shied away from the school in recent months. A former U.S. senator, he has extensive contacts back east to see that CU can claim its fair share of federal research grants.
He’ll be working with faculty and staff across the entire system to “make sure we’re working at our best levels and providing the best resources to state,” says Rod Muth, chair of the CU Faculty Council, and addressing key diversity issues.
Brown jump-started his presidency a few days early last week by meeting with African American leaders in the Denver area to talk about ways to improve the pipeline between black communities and CU. “He dearly loves CU and wants nothing but the best for it, so all kinds of conversations will be about how can we be the very best and how can we improve what we do,” Muth said.
For CU, it’s no longer about putting the past behind, but, as Muth said, creating a “bright vision of where we’re going” and letting everyone in on it.
