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The Volum~
©
7
Pt~km
October 17, 1984
Issue 9
MSUCD?
Snow
Merger·Plan ,. He~rings Start
Emer~Y.
Declared
,Blizzard Criwks
Au~aria
By Robert Davis Reporter, The Metropolitan
Metropolitan S.tate College slipped ' - · one step closer to extinction last Tuesday as the legislative committee · reviewing Colorado's education system was presented a proposal to merge the school with CU. The Higher Education Committee , , received a plan to reorganize the statewide governing structure, including elimination of the Auraria board and combining MSC with UCD. The proposal calls for colleges with similar roles and missions to be governed by a ~ngle board-with the except. tion of MSG. The recommendation. to merge the schools on Auraria, with the largest campus population in the state, would put MSC under the CU Regents, a board that deals primarily with graduate programs. ~ According to Edgar Benton, of the Colorado Commission on Higher Education, the merger would help both schools. "Graduate teachers need to teach undergraduate classes," Benton said. "These students should have the benefit by Kevin Vaughan >-. of teachers that are involved in Editor, The Metropolitan research." · Fred Hopkins of the MSC Alumni Association disagreed, and said that· Once again Denver and the Auraria Denver's needs are already being met. campus were caught off guard by an , .. We have 16,000 graduates," unusually severe snowstorm and classes ~ Hopkins said. "But, we have had at all three colleges were cancelled 150,000 community members who until 5 p.m. Tuesday. ·attended MSC for professional · Denver Mayor · Federico Pena enrichment. declared a snow emergency around 5 90 percent of our graduates stay in a.m. Tuesday, and soon thereafter the the metro area- they give back to the · campw closed until noon. The closure community what they received," was later extended to 5 p.m. \ Hopkins said. This was the second severe The only MSC student repr~tation snowstorm to affect Auraria in less than was a written analysis from Brendan a year, but this time students were kept Kelly, stutlen~ representative to the abreast of the situation. Auraria board. Last November, the announcemen~ His report said a board is needed to that claaes had been cancelled due to solve on-campw academic disputes • and that a merger will not benefit the students or faculty at Auraria. Lisa Espiritu, President of the Associated Students of MSC, was scheduled to testify but she left early in the afternoon. Espiritu said she would C try to get on the November agenda also. The committee meets again at the Capitol on November 9. Although some . observers didn't endure the day-long debate, the con".ersation was maintained by the committee members. They questioned & almost everyone that testified. Rexe.r Berndt, President of Ft. Lewis College, was asked for his view on Auraria after he pitched for his school. "If you put it (MSC) under CU (Regents) you are creating; an extremely powerful political force," Berndt said. -~ "The· most powerful force in the state;
Flight Team
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inclement weather came after many students had already left for school. Those who made it to Auraria in that 1983 blizzard arrived only to find parking lots and sidewalks covered with knee-deep snow. According to Larry Ambrose, Director of Community Relations for AHEC, the decision to close the campus was made after the city had dec~ared a snow emergency. "We were waitipg to~ what the city.decided," Ambrose said. "We had a handle on the situation and made the decision (to cancel cl~) about 5:30 a.m." . Ambrose said creW$ began working to clear parking lots and walkways Monday night and that by early Tuesday morning three lots were finished
and the rest were done by noon. The decision to extend the closure of the 30,000 plus student campus to 5 p.m. came after AHEC officials realized many side streets were still impassable. · "We thought we could be open by noon," Ambroee said. "We extended the closure when it became apparent that many side streets in the city were still not cleared." Ambrose said AHEC has two choices when faced with an emergency like this. Clames c.an either be cancelled 01 the campus can be closed altogether. When climes are cancelled, Ambrose said, personnel are still required to report for work. However, when thE campus is closed- as it wu Tuesday-everyone gets the day off. 0 0
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