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• Volume l, Issue 8 April 18, 1979 UC:D+MSC -
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ura·· r1a_ Merger I
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by Frank Mullen ~ The Colorado Commission on Higher > F.ducation (CCHE) voted April 16 to sup- ~ port the merger of the University of o Colorado at Denver (UCD) and Metro- :;; politan State College (MSC) as proposed by ~ Senate Bill 523. the The commissioners voted 4-3 to support a merger of Auraria 's two largest institutions a(ter hearing over six hours of testimony from college administrators, members of governing boards and CCHE staff members. The testimony concerned many controversial aspects of SB-523- and the commissioners voted on several recommendations of support for State Sen. Hugh Fowler (R-Llttleton)'s reorganization bill.. Most of the speakers who addressed the merger issue spoke against it, and a few urged the CCHE to study the matter further. Only two speakers openly supported the merger proposal- Jerry Wartgow, the executive director of Auraria and Eugene Wilson, former CCHE executive director and presi· dent emeritus of the - University of Colorado. Wartgow told the commission SB-523 is consistent with previous majority recommendations of the Auraria Board of Directors since it addresses ~he major problem at Auraria-one campus governed by four separate governing boards. Fowler's bill would merge the two institutions under a newly appointed governing board. The new board would have respoi1sibility for all centralized functions of the campus and replace the Regents of the University of Colorado, who now govern CCHE Director Lee Kerschner: " ...our intent to supporc SB-523 with respect to merger." UCD; and the Trustees of the Consortium
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of State Colleges, who now govern MSC. "People do have sufficient information to make the decision now," Wartgow said. "There is no clear voice up there (at the legislature) ... a decision should be made." Wilson told the commission he has 53 years of experience in higher education. He said SB-523 is an "excellent attempt to move forward. "I look on this bill as a real effort to terminate some of the arguments which have gone on incessantly in higher educ~tion," he said. . Representatives of three governing boards and several state colleges spoke against the Fowler bill in general and the merger provision in particular. Many said the bill, a.s written, would reduce access to higher education, fragment the institutions, unbalance the statewide system of higher education and cost the state more money by creating an expanded bureaucracy. Terry A. Tollefson, Director of the Board of Community Colleges and Occupa~ tional Education, told the commissioners SB-523 is "potentially the most dangerous bill on higher education" he has seep. The bill provides for separate governing boards for each community college. Tollefson said he opposes the merger provision of the bill. He said HB-1498, which would place Auraria under the state's "sunset provision" is the best way to deill ·with the problems of Auraria. Any proposed change at Auraria, he said, should ·.contain provisions for the Community College a.t Denver (0€0-A) to "obtain its ·rightful share of dassroom. and laboratory space, campus security, and. other support services." . . He recommended the CCHE ask the bill's continued on page 12