Boulder – A former University of Colorado environmental studies instructor who says her job was eliminated because she exposed corporate waste-dumping, said Tuesday that a faculty committee unanimously recommended the university reinstate her.
But provost Phil DiStefano, who was then interim chancellor, rejected the March faculty vote to give Adrienne Anderson her job back. DiStefano said he would not override a decision by environmental studies department professors to eliminate Anderson’s part-time position.
The department wanted to add more courses central to the core curriculum, CU officials said.
Anderson, whose contract was not renewed in January 2005, contends that a series of e-mails prove officials in Gov. Bill Owens’ administration “were hammering the CU administration” over her research.
But university officials said the e-mails, which were released last year under the Colorado Open Records Act, show only that state officials questioned Anderson’s use of university computers, phones and copiers for her projects that attacked corporations.
In the e-mails, state officials said Anderson’s accusations were rife with error.
“Clearly your faculty members as private citizens are allowed to speak on any topic they choose, but when using university equipment and presenting themselves as CU faculty members, it seems that academic integrity would require a certain amount of accuracy,” Rick O’Donnell, former head of the higher education commission, wrote to former CU president Elizabeth Hoffman in 2004.
Staff writer Jennifer Brown can be reached at 303-954-1593 or jenbrown@denverpost.com.
