• Vol. 1 Issue 4 March 14, 1979
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Whither· goest Aura ·r ia ~ STUDENT MARCH DRAWS OVER 1200 PROTESTORS by Emerson Schwartzkopf
Over 1200 students from various Colorado schools converged on the State Capitol March 9 to protest higher education fund·1 ing cutbacks proposed by the state legislature's Joint Budget Committee (JBC). Organized by students from the University of Colorado-Denver (UCD), the Capitol protest-highlighted by the appearance of Governor Richard Lamm-culminated a ,.... - week of "teach-ins," demonstrations, and a Friday morning march from the Auraria £ Higher Education Center. "The (the march a(ld protest) is just the first part of our fight," said UCD Student Chancellor E.B. Van Otterloo during a pre-march rally at the Auraria Student Center. "We 're out to save education in ~ Colorado." Individuals from :Vletropolitan State College (MSC), the three Community College of Denver (CCD) campuses-Auraria, North and Red Rocks-and the other Colorado . ~ schools joined UCO students and staff Friday in marching through downtown Denver "'" to a noon rally at the Capitol. Throughout the march and rallies, protestors chanted "Save UCD" and "JBC don't be so tight" while carrying pro- UCO and anti- JBC signs. Speakers at both the pre-march and capi~ tot rallies said the JBC proposals call for the reduction of over 150 full - time faculty and 3000 Full-Time Equivalent (FTE) students at UCD.
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Rally speakers also stressed the protest was pro-education, and not anti-MSC. Rob Prince, a CCD-Red Rocks staff member, said before the march the JBC proposals are " an attempt to vocationa]ize and lobotomize Denver metropolitan education." "Everybody's a victim," Prince said, referring to the state-wide budget cuts proposed by the JBC. "They're (the JBC) trying to cut $200 million from Colorado higher education. continued on page 3
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JBC PROPOSAL CONFlJISES
AURARIA ADMINISTRATORS by Frank Mullen
The legi slature's Joint Budget Committee's (JBC's) recommendations for the "solution" of Auraria 's duplication problems may have halted any real progress towards a solution from within Auraria. Harold Haak, University of Colorado at Denver (UCD) chancellor, told the Senate Education Committee March 8 the JBC's actions recommending a "cap" on UCD enrollment-and the transfer of undergraduate
A · LOOK
INSIDE: March Centerfold
pgs.- 4-5
Baker's Pride
pg. 3
Bella in Boulder
pg. 8
degree programs to Metropolitan State College (MSC)-"pre-empted" the internal process to eliminate, consolidate or jointly operate duplicative programs and support services. "What's the use of all this effort?" Haak asked committee chairman State Sen. Hugh Fowler (R-LittJetoh). "I'm hostile about that kind of process." In January, the Colorado Commission on Higher Education (CCHE) asked the Auraria Board, MSC, UCD, and the Community of College of Denver at Auraria (CCD-A) to submit recommendations to the CCH E hy ;\1ay 4 concerning the future of duplicative academic programs and the shared campus services. The CCHE will then make recomme ndations to the legislature about the future of Auraria. The JBC's recommendations on UCO, reportedly contained in the draft of the "long hill," halted negotiations between :\1SC and UCD, UCO faculty members said. Haak told his faculty and staff March 6 the JBC's plan would eliminate as many as 155 faculty positions. Haak based his comments on tape recordings of JBC meetings. The university has never been formally told of the JBC 's plan, Haak said. UCO faculty members voted March 6 to condemn the legislative recommendations and approved a resolution asking l\ISC to be merged with UCD under the Board of Regents, according lo a March 7 story in tJw Silver and Gold Record. continued on page 2