December 12, 2005 09:00 AM UTC

CU President Moves to Denver

• 2 Comments
• by: Colorado Pols

Lost in the hullaballoo surrounding the dismissal of Colorado football coach Gary Barnett last week was the news that the CU Regents finalized the move of the office of the University President to Denver. The move was touted as a way to aid CU’s lobbying efforts at the state capitol, which will no doubt be aided by the fact that President Hank Brown’s office will now be at the capitol.

Supporters cited three main reasons for ending the 130 year tenure in Boulder: a) to end the confusion between who runs the flagship Boulder campus, the Chancellor or President, (b) to move the President and his top staff to a location central to CU’s other campuses in Colorado Springs, downtown Denver and Fitzsimmons, and (c) to move CU’s top decision makers closer the governor, legislature, CCHE, donors and business leaders.

The Rocky Mountain News was not enthusiastic about the move…

Part of the logic behind the move is to enable CU officials to more easily lobby the governor and legislature – although they managed that task long before transportation and communication were anywhere close to being as sophisticated as they are today. Do they plan to camp out at the Capitol in the future?

Perhaps so. But there is also something to be said for not growing too detached from the institution you are supposed to be leading.

From a political perspective, the interesting thing here is that Carrigan was the primary mover behind the decision. After taking office in January, Carrigan has been frequently quoted by the press and has emerged as the virtual spokesperson for the regents. Normally being a CU Regent wouldn’t put you on the fast track to higher office, but with all of the publicity that CU has generated, there was an opportunity for one of the regents to end up with a high profile. Thus far that regent appears to be Carrigan, who is now being courted for other top jobs (a Democrat, he has been pushed to run for attorney general but has declined).