February 1, 2008
For Immediate Release:
Contact: Melissa Gardner
gardnermab@yahoo.com
303-775-3957


REGENT CINDY CARLISLE'S POSITION ON THE
CU PRESIDENTIAL SEARCH

"I have always been opposed to having a single finalist."

Boulder, CO - This week the 17-member CU Presidential Search Committee presented a single finalist for President of the CU System to the Board of Regents: Bruce Benson.

I have always been opposed to having a single finalist. I wanted at least six finalists, with different backgrounds, including academics with national standing. Let me be very clear, I have not voted for Mr. Benson to be the next president, but for nothing more than the next phase of vetting by faculty, the university community, and legislators.

My true concern is more about the evolution of the Office of the President and how the job has been altered. The President of CU used to be the chief academic officer. This is true no more. The president is now the system's chief business manager and fundraiser.

The chief academic officer of CU-Boulder is the Chancellor.

If the current trend continues, I see the key is to bolster the autonomy of the Boulder Chancellor. We can't have a Denver-based system president undercutting Chancellor authority, or Denver politicians undermining CU-Boulder further.

I did support Bruce Benson as one of a number of finalists I thought merited consideration for the job, as it now stands. He was a major backer of Referenda C and D. He led a $ 1 billion fundraising drive for CU.

Benson made two critical promises to me: If he becomes system president, he will desist from all partisan politics, and, most important, he will ensure that the CU-Boulder Chancellor has real and unquestioned autonomy.

I do, however, remain appalled at the search process that yielded a single finalist who is not rooted in academia, and I have an open mind about who the right choice for president should be. I challenge the Regents to address the continuing issue of what the office of the President should stand for and how it should relate to the university.