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• Volume 1, Issue 9 April 25, 1979 ~-
Fowler ·bill unconstitutional?
Regents mciy control·. MSC by Frank Mullen
change in the governance of UCD can be "provided bylaw."
The Board of Regents may be able to retain control of the state-supported univer"The constitution says there has to be a . _sity in Denver even if Senate Bill 523-the university in Denver," said State Sen. Hugh higher education bill containing a provision Fowler (R-Littleton), the author of the govfor a new urban university under a newly ' ernance bill. "It doesn't say the institution. appointed governing board-becomes law. has to be governed by the Regents." If the Regents choose to test the consinLee Kerschner, executive director of the ut i onality of SB-523 in court and win the Colorado Commission on Higher Education case, the new university resulting from the (CCHE) said the State Attorney General's me_rger of the University of Colorado at Den· office has considered the constitutional ver (UCD) and Metropolitan State College question surrounding Auraria governance. (MSC) might be placedynder their control. Kerschner, at a CCHE hearing concerning The Board of Regents, a nine member bo- SB-523, said the attorney's opinion stated ard governing·the University of Colorado SB-523 is constitutional as written. He said system, derive their power from an amend- the opinion can still be tested in court. ment to the Colorado constitution, rather Regent Byron Johnson said the board rethan from a state statute. Article nine, section five of the constitution, amended in ceived no official word from the Attorney General's office and the governing board has 1972, gives the Regents power over UCD. Section five has been called "ambiguous" by taj<en "no official position" on the matter. some of the R{lgents. The amendment can be ·He called the proposed change in governance interpreted to mean the unive_rsity system a ''reckless intrusion on the university syscannot be changed without a constitutional tem." amendment or, as the sponsor ofSB-523 beJohnson said. he wfshes the legislators lieves, the section can be interpreted to mean would recognise the "obvious legal
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A Look Inside= FILM FESTIVAL' PG. 5· ~ AFTER THE FALL PG. 9
weakness"_of amending the constitution by statute. "I have no quarrel with the logic of an MSC-UCD merger. As many have said 'if we (the institutions) are going to sleep in the same bed (Auraria), maybe we should get married'," he said. "But I don't like to play fast and loose with the constitution.'.'. there is the definite potentiality of a (legal) contest here." Johnson said if the two institutions merge the Regents should maintain control of the resulting university.
If the Regents go to court over the issue, the case could take years before a.final decision is reached. The Regents legal council was unavailable for comment, but Regents and staff members said the governing board will probably fight any attempt to remove UCD from the university system. "'Some of the Regents were elected to office by a very large margin of votes" one bo. ard staffer said. "I don't think they feel.they were elected to preside over the disso1Jusion of the university system."