Carnevale David I. Colson MetroStyle Co-Editor
An overcast sky, thirteerr degrees and snow on the ground is a long way from a sunny Mediterranean beach on a sandy Italian shore. Carnevale, the free-hype achieve- ·
• • •
Right, What Carnevale?
ment extraordinaire, put on by Metropolitan St.ate College and the Larimer Square Associates, should have been scheduled for a better weekend, in a better month, in a better season. Pre-Lenten celebration? Who cares? It's winter out there! Did the Carnevale committee plan-
tennis shoes, you ~et to carry home your coat. · Bingo. Alpineweather,likeDenverweather, means you might get short sleeves and long underwear dirty in the same week. But that's no attitude for an Auraria -citfzen to take. Give a little support. You used to trick-or-treat in weather
ners expect a sixty degree January to be followed by a sixty degree February? Did they consult some Roman Almanac, or did the planners just plan on luck? As they say in the Italian ,\!ps: Garnble on the weather and you getilumt,you get frostbite, you get slush in your
continued on page 12
THE METROPOllTAN Volume 8
.
February 12, 1986
Issue 19 I
Legislators Scold Metro Officials Diploma Requirement Resolved
State College ·Head _ Resigns Rose Jackson
Robert Smith
News Editor
Reporter
Metro's non-traditinal students came a step closer to being le,gallv wed to stiffer admission requirements last week as a result ot what Sen. Al Meiklejohn, R-Arvada, called a "shotgun marriage." The debate over Senate Bill 93, which would make a high school diploma or its equivalent the only admission requirement for students 20 or older, ended with the bill passing in a 6-3 vote. Sen. Jack Fenlon, R-Aurora, said he sponsored the bill to make sure qualified students can get into Metro. "The non-traditional student would take up space that might be occupied by a more qualified student," he said. "If we don't have the requirement, it will turn into pure first come, first served. If you're 20 years old and breathing, you can get in." But the requirement is one Metro has been using since 1963. A fact committee members were unhappy about after passage last year of House Bill 1187. Although the 9ill didn't set admission standards for non-traditional students, the committee members accused school officials of breaking t})e law. Paul Magelli, president of Metro, was the target of many of the legislators' complaints. "This bill is a shotgun marriage," Sen. Al Meiklejohn, R-Arvada, told him. "The Fenlon bill will make legal what you now do contrary to law. We're not trying to run the institution, but we do make the laws. If what you're doing is legal, you don't need this bill." "We asked you to protect the role of Metro with regard to non-traditional students," said Sen. Jack Donley, RGreeley. "If you do what you want to
(
Richard Laughlin resigned his position as president of the Consortium of State Colleges Thursday night during an unscheduled meeting of the Board of Tru~s. Laughlin had served in higher education for 22 years. .. He's been very unhappy for the last four months," Paul Magelli, MSC president, said. "It's the stress of the job. The pressures are on all of us on the enrollment, budgets and requirements. I think all of us are feeling the pressure." Laughlin's resignation came the day after he and Magelli weathered a
pcudingbylOOSmareF.docatmCanmittre ~ .J!!
~ ~
~ ~ ~ ~ ~
u..
Consortium of State College President Richard Laughlin (reading) resigned one day after he and Metro President Paul MageUl<were-s colded for breaking a law set last summer. Magelll and Laughlin denied breaking the aw. no matter what we do, we1l have to rethink everything we do." Magelli tried to use the history of the admission standard's use tp defend its continuance after H.B. 1187, but the committee wouldn't accept this argument. "History changed July 1, 1985 (the effective date of H.B. 1187)," Sen. Jim Lee, R-Lakewood, said. "You don't need a law degree to interpret that."
Magelli said the bill was an e~rt to clarify the conflicting interpret tions of H.B. 1187 he was getting. en grilled by Lee about present standards for non-traditional students, he said he had been told by the Colorado Commission on Higher Education and the Trustees of the Consortium of State Colleges that requirements in H.B. 1187 were only minimums. Magelli said during a meeting late
concerning House Bill 93-a bill requiring anyone 20 or older to have a high school diploma or equivalent to enter Metro. The committee accused Laughlin and Magelli of breaking the law set in H.B. 1187 last summer that eliminated entrance requirements for MSC applicants 20 and older. Laughlin argued that Metro has required a diploma or an equivalent since 1963 and continued to do so after the July 1, 1985, decision to keep with tradition. But committee members continued continued on page 3
last year in Fenlon's office, CCHE Deputy Executive Director Charles Manning has said the CCHE would determine the admission standards for non-traditional students, as well as the definition of a non-traditional student. Magelli, who said he feared everincreasing standards for Metro, never gave his personal support to S.B. 93. continued on page 3