Posted on 03/08/2005 11:00:30 AM PST by Glacier Honey
Mar 7, 2005 11:50 am US/Mountain
It has been a tumultuous tenure for the University of Colorado and President Elizabeth "Betsy" Hoffman.
The state's most high-profile center of higher learning has been embroiled in one controversy after another since Hoffman arrived: football recruiting; slush funds; Prof. Ward Churchill; and binge drinking that led to a student's death.
On Monday, Hoffman decided she had had enough. In a statement delivered to the university's Board of Regents, Hoffman said her resignation would be effective June 30, 2005, or whenever the Board names a successor.
"It has become clear to me that, amid the serious matters the University of Colorado now confronts, my role as the leader of the University has become an issue," said Hoffman. "It appears to me it is in the University's best interest that I remove the issue of my future from the debate so that nothing inhibits CU's ability to successfully create the bright future it so deserves."
Hoffman, who was named president in August 2000, came to CU from the University of Illinois-Chicago and was the second woman to serve as president of the four-campus CU system.
"Sometimes you need to say someone else perhaps needs to take the next step and that's what I've decided," Hoffman said. "I think it's really important to focus my attention on what needs to be done and not feel that I have to defend myself against attacks.
"I've taken my future off the table so to some extent I can focus my attention on issues that face the university and not on my personal future," she told the Associated Press.
Last Friday, Rep. Joe Stengel (R-District 38) called on Hoffman to resign. Stengel said CU's leadership had mishandled the football recruiting scandal, the Churchill controversy and questions about binge drinking on campus.
Hoffman was in the process of preparing for her annual review by the Regents when the announcement of her resignation came. She said she did not make the decision in haste.
"I do not take this step lightly or hastily. I love CU," she said. "I have given it my heart and soul these past five years. I deeply appreciate the enormous support and assistance I have received from the students, faculty, administrators, legislature and the larger CU community."
Reaction To Resignation
Here is a sample of the reaction to University of Colorado President Elizabeth "Betsy" Hoffman's announcement that she'll resign from her post by June 30th.
"The quality of Betsy Hoffman's character is clear; today she put the interest of the university before that of her own. Betsy Hoffman has served the University of Colorado ably during her nearly five-year tenure, and her vision, strong will and steady hand will be missed. All of the CU family owes President Hoffman a deep debt of gratitude. However, it has become clear to many in the CU family that our university -- one of the most distinguished in the nation -- has suffered greatly from a series of controversies that seem to be growing, not abating. ... On Monday, President Hoffman realized the future of CU is far more important than any single individual." -- Board of Regents Chairman Jerry Rutledge in a statement
"It was with regret that I learned of President Hoffman's decision to step down. I have truly enjoyed working with her over the past five years. She has provided crucial leadership at a time when the university faces enormous challenges. Through it all, President Hoffman has acted in the best interests of the university. Even now, as she announces her decision to step down, her primary concern is what's best for the university. We will miss her energy, her ideals and her commitment to ensuring the future of the University of Colorado." -- CU-Boulder Chancellor Phil DiStefano
"I see it as part of an agenda for a political viewpoint to assert absolute state control over the university. It's been public that the intent is to review every instructor, all content, every core course to vet it for adherence to a political line. She has been resistant to that idea, has been working to defend the principle of academic integrity in the face of almost stonewall opposition to the idea that quite a range of viewpoints are deserving of articulation." -- ethnic studies professor Ward Churchill
"I'm heartbroken that this is what she's decided to do because I do think she is a fabulous university president and I think the circumstances in all of the crises over the last 14 months, they're not about Betsy, they're about the university. Since her name started to become very focal and people were calling on her to resign, I think she realized the best thing for the university would be to remove herself from the equation." -- Former Regent Maureen Johnson Ediger, who served from 1997 to 2003
"Even with this resignation we need to continue a strong commitment of supporting higher education in Colorado. I call upon all my legislative colleagues and elected officials to pursue funding for our colleges and universities." -- State Senate President Joan Fitz-Gerald, D-Golden
"I think that was the best decision for the University of Colorado as well as herself." -- Gov. Bill Owens
"One of the things President Hoffman did so well was she made us recognize that higher education in Colorado is going out of business." -- Rep. Jack Pommer, D-Boulder, a member of the state House Education Committee
"Betsy, I will tell you, worked 24/7 for this university. There is no doubt in anybody's mind that she certainly has the best interest of the university. But sometimes things take a different turn and Betsy felt she was becoming the focus and not the university and the good things that are happening and that's the reason she has been gracious enough to move on." -- Regent Pat Hayes
"There are lots of decisions that could have been made probably differently. I would again stress that we do have a great research institution and that's our focus today, to have a leadership change so that we can get that message out again." -- Board of Regents Chairman Jerry Rutledge
"President Hoffman served the university during a troubling time, and I congratulate her for putting the interests of the university and its students first. I urge the Board of Regents to conduct a broad and efficient search to find new and effective leadership. I also encourage the Regents to recognize that more steps need to be taken to ensure the University of Colorado has a fresh start in addressing the problems that have plagued the university the last several years." -- Sen. Ken Salazar, D-Colo
"I fear that CU's critics know not what the university has lost as a result of your decision, and that the bright future CU deserves is certainly no closer with your departure." -- John Jacus, chairman of the CU-Boulder Alumni Association Board of Directors, in a letter to Hoffman
"In my view the problems with the football team and Ward Churchill were not caused by Betsy and I am sorry to see her taking the blame." -- State Senate Majority Leader Ken Gordon, D-Denver
An Evolving Scandal
A little more than a year into Hoffman's tenure, the University was rocked by controversy. On Dec. 7, 2001, CU football players and recruits attended an off-campus party where at least one woman later said she was raped while drunk. Prosecutors decided against rape charges.
In May of 2002, prosecutors filed felony charges against four CU football players for allegedly providing alcohol to minors at the party. Days later, CU revoked the scholarships of the four players who attended the party.
The year ended with Lisa Simpson filing a lawsuit contending she was raped by football players and recruits during the party. The suit accused CU of fostering an environment hostile to women. Another woman joined that lawsuit, which is scheduled for trial May 31.
After a relatively quiet 2003, 2004 began as badly as 2002 had ended. On Jan. 14, former CU soccer player Monique Gillaspie filed suit, alleging she was raped by two football players after attending a party. On Jan. 28, a deposition by Boulder County District Attorney Mary Keenan was released in which she accused the CU athletic department of using sex and alcohol as recruiting tools.
On Jan. 29, football coach Gary Barnett, athletic director Dick Tharp and others denied Keenan's allegations and Gov. Bill Owens demanded a public accounting. Hoffman announced an independent commission would look into the allegations.
In February, an adult entertainment company revealed CU football players had hired its strippers for recruiting parties. A Feb. 17 Sports Illustrated article reported former CU kicker Katie Hnida revealed she was raped by a teammate in 2000. (Hnida's father, Dr. Dave Hnida, works for CBS4 News.) Barnett was temporarily relieved of his football duties after he was critical of Hnida's athletic ability during a news conference about the alleged rape.
Gov. Owens then appointed Attorney General Ken Salazar, now a United States Senator, as a special prosecutor to investigate the scandal. Salazar empanelled a grand jury, whose report was leaked last week.
In September of 2004 the university received the worst news imaginable: one of its students, 18-year-old freshman Lynn Gordon Bailey, Jr., had died from excess drinking.
Bailey, Gordie to his friends, had been taken to the mountains near the CU campus with fellow Chi Psi fraternity pledges and told not to leave until several bottles of whiskey were finished.
Officers found his body in a first-floor library of the Chi Psi house on Friday, Sept. 17 after someone had called 911. His death occurred within a matter of hours after he had called his mother to tell her the news of his acceptance into the fraternity, and of his obtaining a spot on the club lacrosse team.
In February, Regents announced they were opening an inquiry in Churchill's work, including an essay written after Sept. 11 in which he compared World Trade Center victims to Nazi leader Adolph Eichmann. Hoffman said last week that Churchill would not be fired if the review turns up only inflammatory comments, not misconduct.
In a news conference last week at the state capitol, surrounded by Regents and other CU officials, Hoffman appealed to state lawmakers to help restore the university's good name. She was criticized by some for refusing to answer any questions at the end of the briefing.
She was such a loveable c--t.
That's how it's supposed to be -- exiting with dignity and grace under fire.
When the University of Hawaii got rid of its last president, he made Ward Churchill and OJ Simpson look like a class act.
Was she an affirmative action hire? As non PC as the question is, the question must be asked.
This is the same President who said there was nothing there when the Grand Jury testimony was leaked? Looks to me like there is plenty there. Still cannot believe the idiot media of the Big 12 picked Barnett as the Big 12 Coach of the Year in football over the Iowa State coach. They have egg all over their face but if the rest of the Big 12 media reflects the morons we have in OKC, then I should not be surprised.
A sports writer from the Rocky Mountain News was on our local sports talk radio and he was saying the former Dem Attorney General made sure the scope of the Grand Jury investigation was very narrow -- he expects the Governor and current AG to widen the scope since so much was found in a narrow investigation.
Think one of the dumber comments came from Barnett when asked about the slush fund and he said parents like to pay cash to send their kids to football camp so they needed plenty of cash to make change and kept it in five cash boxes. Not in my experience do parents pay cash -- you want a check to confirm everything -- don't know of anyone paying cash to send your son to football camp and I have been in line plenty of times to sign up my kids. At the University level it is check or credit card for almost everything.
By gender, if not race. There's so many diversity possibilities nowadays -- sex, race, ethnicity, "orientation" -- that it can be hard to tell without a scorecard.
There used to be a time when these "teachers" used to be role models for the young and impressionable.
Now, they're examples of people you don't want to know and be associated with -- except that the union says you "gotta stick together." It's hard to believe that at one time, teaching and teachers were a noble profession -- that they themselves have dragged down to the most despised and contemptible. It doesn't have to be that way; they can leave head first, with dignity and grace.
The unions dragged them down. That's no way for professionals to behave. They're just kidding themselves that they can be "professionals" and union thugs at the same time. They can save themselves by making a choice; it's not to late to recover their own self-respect.
So it goes ...
Massachusetts is the kind of place where they vote for Ted Kennedy and John Kerry year after year.
What more can one say?
Evan Dobelle (correct spelling this time), has a "storied" history. Prior to going to Hawaii, he was the president of Trinity College (small liberal arts school in Hartford, CT), he spent some time with the dim-0-cratic national committee ...
Very long on "hype and sizzle" but very short on "achievement."
His major qualification to be hired at the salary of the top 10 most highly compensated university presidents at the time, was that he was a former treasurer of the Democratic National Committee and so nobody checked his credentials since the editor of the Honolulu Advertiser was touting him as one of the great intellectuals and academics of his time -- although nobody could recall any notable work for such an acclamation. So the guy immediately hires all his friends at double what the jobs formerly paid -- and took credit for creating many high-paying jobs in Hawaii. When he was called to the carpet by the Board of Regents, he did all the classic Ward Churchill, OJ Simpson outrage; through the end, the editor of the Honolulu Advertiser and his wife, were sending him emails assuring him no unfavorable stories would ever come to light in the mainstream media -- as these local yokels, used to Democratic Party rule for these past fifty years, would never stop to question his authority.
Corruption runs so deep that many legislators here are also the primary lobbyists for legislation that will hire them as chief executive after the funding is approved. Meanwhile, the mainstream media sees that none of this ever sees the light of day.
Go to hawaiireporter.com for the exposes. You'll never read about it in the mainstream media. That's where most of their advertising comes from. It's a vicious circle. The present governor is just one foothold on the path to reclaiming integrity and sanity. In Hawaii, such groups are the counterculture.
By the way, I understand Dobelle lied about all these things to get the job in Massachusetts -- but that's also a similarly Democratic state.
Most people are not used to dealing with pathological liars; they have no intention of ever telling the truth -- no matter how many times they are caught. They have no conscience -- and never expect it of them.
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