Problems with state’s higher-education leaders
Re: “Deceit felled college chief,” June 21 news story.
As a former senior staff member of the Colorado Community College System and now as a national consultant to community colleges and state systems of community colleges, I was saddened and dismayed to see Dr. Christine Johnson’s removal as president of the Community College of Denver. Her talent and unselfish commitment to college opportunities for low-income and minority students is recognized and appreciated everywhere – except Colorado, it seems. In my experience, the grounds quoted for this personnel action are especially flimsy and point more to a personal vendetta by system president Nancy McCallin to eliminate yet another dissenting voice from a system that has become overrun with cronyism and bad judgment. I have seen presidents fired for fraud, creating special slush funds, receiving kickbacks from contractors, and for incompetence, but this was not the apparent grounds here. Instead, Dr. Johnson was fired because of fears of “creating a risk for the state.” This is nothing less than a rush to judgment with no possible good return for anyone involved.
Sadly, a system of higher education that was, in the previous decade, in the top echelon of community college systems in the United States has now taken yet another giant step backward. Gov. Bill Ritter ought to take immediate steps to ensure that the agenda for community colleges in this state is not thrown away because of personal likes and dislikes. Colorado deserves much better.
Richard A. Voorhees, Littleton
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Christine Johnson is one of the finest people I have ever known. She has dedicated her life to the education of our children, particularly those most in need. She has held tightly to the belief that a good education is the key to each child’s future and the key to the future of our society, our country and our world. She literally believes that no child should be left behind and labors every day to make that dream a reality. There is not a selfish or self-serving bone in her body. She is, in the best sense of the word, selfless. She has worked tirelessly for our children as a teacher, a principal, and as the president of the Community College of Denver.
I am profoundly concerned that our society has acquired a voracious appetite to destroy and eat our leaders. Where has the “civil” in civil society gone? If you read the article about Christine, you will not see one allegation of personal gain. Whatever decisions she made, I know she was making them in what she believed was the best interests of her students. She has never done otherwise.
Higher education has lost yet another great leader. Our community has not. Christine will never, for one moment, give up the fight for our children.
Barbara B. Grogan, Denver
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Re: “The old college try just got much harder,” June 22 editorial.
As a college student in Colorado, I was disappointed to see the recent stories of alleged misbehavior from two individuals in the higher-education community [Christine Johnson and Donald Stevens, former managing director of the Community College of Denver’s Institute of International Business]. Their actions cannot be tolerated and the individuals must be held accountable.
I am equally disappointed in the lament from The Denver Post, supposing this will make it difficult to advocate for our severely underfunded higher-education system. This hand-wringing only perpetuates this red-herring argument. The reality is that if current funding trends continue, we will be left with a low-quality, unaffordable and inaccessible higher-education system.
The persistent fact is that funding for higher education in Colorado is too low. Colorado ranked No. 1 in slashing higher-education funding between 2001 and 2006 and regularly ranks 48th in funding per capita and per $1,000 of income.
For those concerned about higher education – anyone desiring a vibrant economy, engaged citizenry, and opportunity for all Coloradans – the discussion is not whether we should reinvest in higher education, but rather how we are going to do so.
Blake Gibson, Chairman, Associated Students of Colorado, Fort Collins
Brewer’s response to charges of not being green
Re: “Brewer of Fat Tire backpedals,” June 22 Al Lewis column.
While it’s disheartening to read Al Lewis’ hyperbolic editorializing in regards to New Belgium Brewing, the negative press is minor compared to ensuring the safety of our co-workers. Here are a few points we wish Mr. Lewis had considered.
From the beginning, New Belgium Brewing has worked hard to find ways to do business in a way that minimizes our impact on the environment. We are far from perfect, which is why we continue to seek innovative solutions to environmental impacts throughout our process.
In addition to purchasing wind power for electricity and capturing methane from our wastewater treatment plant, which we can use to generate electricity, we have built buildings that are energy efficient and created brewing and work processes that save water and energy.
We also invest in new technologies – we are currently working with Colorado State University and Fort Collins- based Solix biofuels to create biodiesel from algae. We are willing to experiment and try new things in order to raise the bar on better environmental business practices.
What we are not willing to do is put our co-workers at risk from people who pose a threat. New Belgium, contrary to what Mr. Lewis claims, was not “responding to an environmentalist” in obtaining a protection order against Eric Sutherland. Mr. Sutherland’s activism is not the issue. Rather, we are concerned about the threat he poses to the safety of New Belgium and our collective family.
We will continue to welcome and encourage open, honest dialogue with our supporters and our critics. We don’t believe that’s what Mr. Sutherland was doing – and we have taken action to protect our employees from menacing e-mails, cryptic threats and verbal harassment that has genuinely frightened our community.
Bryan Simpson, Media Relations Director, New Belgium Brewing, Fort Collins
PrideFest at Civic Center
We briefly visited Civic Center on Sunday and were shocked at the disgusting, almost obscene behavior of many of the persons attending the PrideFest event. If this is an example of the gay community, we are strongly opposed to any support of gay/lesbian rights.
We also visited, along with thousands of others, the art festival at Larimer Square. This was a wonderful event encouraging appreciation in art, sponsored by the Larimer Arts Association, a non-profit organization. I understand that the proceeds from the event are donated to our public school system.
I note that The Denver Post did not even carry a story on this event.
Milo and Susan Tedstrom, Denver
Post’s theater coverage
Denver is a great theater town, but I’m sadly cheap and lazy, and I’m often-enough burned by mediocre theater to be fearful and disinclined to risk my hard-earned green. Consequently, I really appreciate what I perceive as an increased reviewing of theater in The Denver Post. It seems as though you’re reviewing and grading for my benefit about twice as many plays as formerly. I’m particularly gratified that you’ve been reviewing Germinal Stage, one of my favorite local venues. Rah rah, and please keep up the good work!
April Gustafson, Aurora
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Cynical people are able to articulate the low opinions of personal thought. I was in the audience of “A Year with Frog and Toad” playing at the Aurora Fox on opening night and found the show to be innocent. It was nice to see a program that is inoffensive and illustrates the values of friendship. John Moore’s review on June 22 (“‘Frog and Toad’ is for tadpoles”) was an unfair interpretation of the show; he wasted little space to elaborate on his own societal values. I suggest Mr. Moore try to be more objective in his one opportunity to evaluate local theater productions for the quality of production and performances of actors and not content of message. We can figure out the message our ourselves.
Teresa Zeylmaker, Thornton
Online extras
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This article has been corrected in this online archive. Originally, due to an editor’s error, it cited an incorrect affiliation for letter-writer Blake Gibson. Gibson is chairman of the Associated Students of Colorado.
