Diversity tops CU leaders' to-do lists

Brown: Minority enrollment part of evaluation plan

Berny Morson, Rocky Mountain News

Published September 30, 2006 at midnight

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Increasing the presence of minorities on campus will be part of the evaluations used to set salaries for top administrators, University of Colorado President Hank Brown said Friday.

Brown, who is evaluated by the regents, said he expects to be judged by the same standard.

"If the system doesn't make progress, it's my responsibility. It's clear where the buck stops," Brown said.

Brown made his comments to a meeting of the 46-member Blue Ribbon Commission he appointed last year to make recommendations about recruiting more minority students and faculty members and improving the social climate for minorities at the Boulder campus.

Former Denver Mayor Wellington Webb, a member of the commission, told Brown he expects more than words. Webb said the chancellors of the three CU campuses should be fired if they don't improve on the number of minorities.

"People have to know they will be held accountable for reaching out and providing access," Webb said.

Webb said after the meeting that Brown is "making great strides at CU." But, Webb added, he's not going to let up on minority issues."

"I'm still going to be me," Webb said. "We expect results that are quantifiable. People are going to be reasonable. Nobody's going to expect all this to happen overnight."

Friday's meeting followed the announcement earlier in the week that CU had increased the number of minority freshmen over past year, including a 37 percent increase in black freshmen.

The university should not just admit minorities and ignore other criteria that apply to all students, constitutional scholar Richard Collins of the CU law school told the commission.

He said the U.S. Supreme Court has ruled that schools may take race into account in admissions only as one factor among many others, including grades, test scores, character or ability in special areas, such as music or athletics.

"It takes care (to legally incorporate minority status into admissions). It can't be done blindly," Collins said.

Brown crafted his language around that warning, setting no numerical targets for the chancellors to meet.

"We expect them to show measurable progress in all areas," Brown said.

The jump in minority freshmen this fall is attributed partly to building relationships with public schools through CU's pre-collegiate program.

The program includes weekend and after-school classes for talented students from low-income families, along with academic coaching.

CU then contacts those students, encouraging them to apply and helping them fill out entrance and financial aid applications.

"That has paid off," said Mark Heckler, the provost of CU's Denver campus.

Beginning this semester, CU will work with the Community College of Denver, which has a high number of minority students. The program will help CCD students move on to CU for a bachelor's degree after earning a two-year diploma from CCD.

Blue Ribbon Commission

• Formed last year by University of Colorado President Hank Brown to review diversity programs on all four CU campuses.

• Held first meeting in January.

• Released draft report in February. The recommendations included giving more money to minority student programs, adding the word "diversity" to the university's mission statement and doling out harsher penalties for students who commit racist acts.

• Announced in May that the University of Colorado at Denver and Health Sciences Center should, among other things, recruit a more diverse faculty, teach medical Spanish to future physicians, offer more scholarships to minority students and give class credit to students who volunteer in diverse communities.

morsonb@RockyMountainNews.com or 303-954-5209

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