Leadership is not about titles. It is about judgment, values, and loyalty to the people who put you in office. By that standard, Regents Ken Montera and Callie Rennison have failed the University of Colorado and the voters they were elected to serve.
In 2020, for the first time in 42 years, Colorado voters delivered Democratic control of the University of Colorado Board of Regents. That result was not accidental or symbolic. It was a clear mandate. Voters expected Democratic leadership rooted in Colorado values like transparency, inclusion, and accountability. They did not vote to hand control back to Republicans.
However, CU Regent Callie Rennison chose to undermine that mandate when she sent an email to the entire board explicitly signaling that she would vote against a Democrat leading the Regents as chair and hand control of the board to Republican Ken Montera.
The email told board members, who elect their own leadership every January, that Montera would run for chair and she would run for vice chair.
She aligned herself with Montera, a Republican from one of the most extreme MAGA districts in the state, deliberately engineering a power structure that transfers control of a Democratic board to the GOP. Montera is positioned to lead and herself retaining power as vice chair.
Voters did not elect a Democrat to empower MAGA Republicans. Through procedural maneuvering, Rennison chose personal power over public trust. A lame duck who is not seeking reelection, she faces no electoral accountability, making her actions especially reckless. Leadership without accountability is not stewardship. It is an abuse of power.
Regent Montera has shown no ability to lead a diverse, statewide public university. He comes from a district where voters are openly hostile to diversity, equity, and inclusion, at a time when the national Republican agenda is actively dismantling those values. Montera has never spoken out against the MAGA movement.
Colorado鈥檚 Latino students are the largest demographic group under the age of 22. CU Denver and CU Anschutz are federally designated Hispanic Serving Institutions. Leadership that dismisses or undermines inclusion inflicts real harm on students, faculty, and staff.
Together, Rennison and Montera took a board once regarded as the most effective in CU history and turned it into one of the most racist boards in CU history. That shift did not happen because of outside pressure. It happened because of their choices.
Those choices included censuring and sanctioning me, a military veteran commissioned through CU Boulder, the only Black Regent, and the first Black woman to serve on the board in 43 years. My crime? Speaking out against racist tropes.
, Denver鈥檚 first Black mayor, as he spoke about the silencing of Black voices during the April 2025 Board meeting at CU Denver. The message and disrespect were unmistakable.
Since this alliance took shape, dysfunction has grown, trust has eroded, and outrage has spread. Students, faculty, and communities of color have watched board leadership prioritize control over credibility.
Voters, the Black community, and the Colorado Democratic Party have responded with justified anger to a board that no longer reflects our values. Colorado Attorney General Phil Weiser stated plainly that the actions taken by the regents violated my First Amendment rights as a regent, and as an American, attempting to silence the voice of the voters in the district I represent, Congressional District 1.
That is not a technical disagreement or a partisan dispute. It is a constitutional violation. It is no different in substance from the retaliation now aimed at Senator Mark Kelly for exercising his right to speak freely and tell the truth.
I will support and vote for Democrats to hold the chair position on the board and to retain Democratic control of the Board of Regents. That is the mandate voters delivered, and it is the mandate I intend to honor.
History will remember this moment. Not for who held the gavel, but for who broke faith with the public. CU deserves better leadership. Colorado deserves better leadership. And the voters who ended 42 years without Democratic control deserve leaders who respect the mandate they were given.
Wanda L. James is an elected regent for the University of Colorado. This column reflects her opinion, and not necessarily those of the University of Colorado.
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