Mines profs demand board chief’s ouster; trustees refuse
Colorado School of Mines professors are demanding that the head of the board of trustees resign after a three-month feud about the faculty’s role in the search for the next Mines president.
The faculty voted 161-26 recently to express “no confidence” in board president Michael Nyikos and demanded that he immediately step down. They also want lawmakers to reserve one seat on the seven-member, governor-appointed board for a faculty member.
The board has declined repeated requests from the faculty senate to create a committee of professors, staff, students and administrators to handle the presidential search. In the past, a committee has interviewed candidates and forwarded its top selections to trustees for approval.
This time, trustees are handling the search and acting as “liaisons” to various campus groups. Nyikos said this way creates greater confidentiality for candidates.
The board reiterated its intent to continue its course in a terse letter faculty received Monday. Trustees said the board “unequivocally supports” Nyikos and rejects the faculty’s resolution as “ill-advised and counterproductive.”
FRISCO
Delivery woman, 62, missing since Monday
Authorities are searching for a 62-year-old Summit County woman who disappeared while driving for an auto-parts supplier.
Patricia McCormick was last seen about 9:45 a.m. Monday delivering parts to a Keystone vehicle-maintenance shop, and her daughter, Kathy, reported her missing that evening.
Described as 5-foot-2 and 135 pounds with gray hair, she was driving a white 2002 Ford Ranger pickup with NAPA logos on the doors and the roof and a Colorado license plate 555GFB.
She was expected back at the NAPA auto parts store in Frisco on Monday afternoon, so officers Tuesday were searching along Swan Mountain Road and the Dillon Dam Road for signs she may have skidded off the pavement.
There is no immediate suspicion of foul play, but authorities ask that anyone with information call the Frisco Police Department at 970-668-3579 or the Summit County Sheriff’s Department at 970-453-2232.
COLORADO
Sen. Groff presses CU for diversity spending
Senate President pro tem Peter Groff of Denver wants the University of Colorado to spend $5 million in the next five years to improve diversity.
In letters to CU president Hank Brown and chancellor Phil DiStefano, the Democrat also said the university should hire an outside firm to review recruiting and develop a plan to increase diversity and reduce racism on campus.
COLORADO
Agency to determine if grouse endangered
The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service – under legal pressure from environmental groups – said it will decide by next April whether to list the Gunnison sage grouse as an endangered species.
The federal agency was sued in 2001 by six Western environmental organizations to force federal protection of the bird. The groups announced the legal settlement Tuesday.
PUEBLO
Suit alleges 1970 molestation by priest
A Miami law firm has filed a lawsuit on behalf of a man who claims a Catholic priest in Pueblo molested him when he was a 10-year-old altar boy in 1970.
Former priest Andrew A. Burke, who committed suicide Sept. 21, and the Diocese of Pueblo are named as defendants in the lawsuit in Pueblo County District Court, said Jeffrey Herman, attorney for the unnamed plaintiff.
ARAPAHOE COUNTY
Former deputy claims bias, files lawsuit
A former Arapahoe County deputy filed a lawsuit in federal court Tuesday saying that he was discriminated against because of his race and his refusal to adhere to what he called the department’s “code of silence.”
James L. Carrero, who is Hispanic, said he was repeatedly denied promotions despite his qualifications, according to the lawsuit filed in U.S. District Court in Denver.
Arapahoe County Sheriff Grayson Robinson said Tuesday he had not seen the lawsuit and could not comment on it.
