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Volume 7 Issue 19
"Growing with a growing community."
Below the Belt:
Steal This Newspaper!
No Study, No Money
Reporter, The MetTopolitan
News Editor, The Metropolitan
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The bill that would totally reorganize the governance of higher education in Colorado was amended last Wednesday to include a provision establishing a panel to study ways to improve the present system. In addition, the amendment to H.B. 1360 includes a threat to freeze funding at present levels if the governing boards of Colorado's colleges and universities don't cooperate with the study. Before the changes were .made in the bill sponsored by Rep. Paul Shauer, R-Littleton, the House Education Committee had deadlocked in a 5-5 vote and tabled the controversial legislation. But just two days later, the amended version squeaked by in a 6-4 vote and now goes on to the full House. The amendment creates a committee of nine to study ways to improve the present system of 24 campuse5 which are governed by six different boards. Three of the nine panel members will come from the Colorado Commission on Higher Education, and the rest will be appointed. In its original form, Shauer's bill would have placed all of the state's higher education facilities --except for the Colorado School of Mines-under the domain of either the University of Colorado Board of Regents or the State Board of Agriculture. The Auraria Higher Education Center Board and the Consortium of State Colleges would be abolished by the bill and MSC would be merged with UCD. Shauer has repeatedly said that reorganization is needed of a system deemed by some to be out of control. "I think everyone realizes that we need to look at the whole higher education industry in the state," Shauer said Monday, "and see if we are giving the taxpayers their moneys worth." Shauer cited demographics in defending his plan to streamline the higher education system. He said there are now 25 percent fewer college age ·s tudents than there were in 1979 and that no major increases are expected before the mid-1990s. The threat to freeze funding was added, Shauer said, to make sure that both those for and those against the proposed changes at least honesy consider reworking the present set-up.
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Parking Woes Get a 'Quick Fix' by Michael Ocrant
by Kevin Vaughan
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February 22, 1984
The AHEC board of directors voted February 13 to allow work to begin on several projects aimed at temporarily alleviating limited parking at Auraria. The board voted to: • Negotiate with. The Denver Center for Performing Arts parking garage at a discounted rate. Currently its rate for students is $2 per day. •Pave two vacant lots that would handle approximately 175 vehicles at a cost of $65,000. • Restripe the perimeters of monthly permit lots and allow only compact cars to park there, adding approximately 50 spaces at a cost of $15,000. • Study the feasibility of a free bus shuttle running from Mile High Stadium to Auraria. This operation would be expected to cost from $50,000 to $100,000. A shuttle, automated guideway transit system, or parking garages are the options being considered as permanent solutions to space shortages, according to AHEC Executive Director Jerry Wartgow . The campus will lose spaces in August, when the Tivoli shoppiµg complex is scheduled to open and take over lots.
photo h11 R . Rico
Under the plan for a shuttle from Mile High, students would park and ride free to the campus.
Abbie Hoffman passes through Denver. see page 7
Viaduct Re-Location
Page 6
Going Bananas?
Page 10
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Use of DCPA parking and construction of the two new lots will replace about 50 percent of the space that will be lost, Wartgow said. The board will probably decide during its March 12 meeting which of the three options to implement, Wartgow said. An AGT will not be feasible, Wartgow said, unless AHEC can find a partner, like RTD or Tivoli, to share the costs of construction. Auraria and RTD have meanwhile asked firms interested in building an AGT to submit proposals giving the firm's qualifications and presenting a range of prices for various systems, Wartgow said. Under the plan for a shuttle from Mile High, W artgow said, students would park and ride free to the campus. Parking rates on campus would probably be raised to subsidize the cost of operating a shuttle, Wartgow said. 0