Boulder – Hank Brown cut 10 jobs Monday on his first day as the University of Colorado’s interim president, showing he isn’t just an idle stand-in until a permanent president is hired.
Brown, a former U.S. senator with a reputation for efficiency, eliminated six vacant positions, two jobs held by retiring employees and two $150,000-a-year public relations jobs. The cuts, all from the president’s office, will save $824,000 in yearly salaries and benefits.
Brown said this is his first step in “placing academics, the classroom and scholarly work of the faculty as our first priority.”
The new CU president also made a more symbolic gesture of change. He had a grounds crew yank out the sign for the presidential parking space.
“The way we want to operate the university is not doing special favors for anybody, including the president,” he said.
As president of the Daniels Fund, a billion-dollar foundation in Denver, Brown reduced overhead by 35 percent in his first two years. Before that, he was president of the University of Northern Colorado.
Brown was named CU’s 21st president in April after Betsy Hoffman resigned amid scandals involving the football recruiting program and professor Ward Churchill’s essay comparing some Sept. 11, 2001, World Trade Center victims to a Nazi official.
Brown said he hopes to move CU past the controversies and focus on stimulating “intellectual curiosity” and diversity on campus.
“We want to focus on making sure this is an environment where all of our citizens feel welcome,” he said.
Brown spent his first day meeting with chancellors from the Boulder, Denver and Colorado Springs campuses. He also met with Paul Schauer, the new chairman of the board of regents.
Brown, who once was student body president at CU, said it seems his life has come full circle.
“It’s been 48 years ago that I came over that hill and first came to campus,” he said, standing outside Regent Hall in a black suit and red power tie.
“This is a special spot for me. I was a janitor in that building over there when I was in law school.”
Monday’s job eliminations include information technology positions, a legal researcher and a vice president’s assistant. Some of the positions were approved by the regents and never filled.
The highest-paid positions are held by the associate vice presidents for communications and advancement. Ray Gomez and Mike Hesse were hired by Hoffman in December to deal with public relations during the football recruiting scandal.
Gomez resigned July 26, saying he would return to consulting in California. Hesse, a former congressional staffer, resigned Monday and will stay until November to help with a transition to new public relations policies.
Hesse said Brown didn’t ask him to resign, but he assumed the new president would want to choose his own team.
“With a fresh start, you need fresh faces,” Hesse said.
The university recently approved a contract for up to $150,000 a year with a Virginia consultant who will audit CU’s communications structure to help set a new course, said Brown’s spokeswoman, Michele McKinney. Simpson Consulting, whose president handled the Bobby Knight controversy at Indiana University, is expected to finish its audit in November.
Staff writer Jennifer Brown can be reached at 303-820-1593 or jenbrown@denverpost.com.
