Higher education in Colorado is in crisis. The dire statistics are well-known: 48th in state support 50th in revenue per student. $750 million below the national average in annual state spending.

The dynamic of a growing population and strained resources means long-term declines in quality and access unless bold measures are taken now. For Colorado to keep up in a world that is "flat," to compete and prosper globally, we have to reverse the trend and transform the dynamic.

The governor's and state commission's reforms are fine—as far as they go. But they don't go far enough. I'm not satisfied with the commission's goal of getting to national norms—finally becoming average—by 2016. We can and should demand no less than excellence now. But we'll need more than just extending Referendum C, difficult though that alone will be to achieve.

To keep Colorado competitive in the region, nation, and world, we need a new higher education model. And that means a breakthrough in new funding sources. That means reversing the slide toward privatization of CU-Boulder. That means redistributing resources and rejecting values that place a higher priority on prisons than universities.

As regent, I could help take the CU system only so far before hitting the brick wall of state neglect. Now I want to work from inside the statehouse.

I want to take down that wall.

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