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CU groups grill Benson

Skeptics unhappy with answers from finalist for top post

By Berny Morson, Rocky Mountain News (Contact)

Published February 5, 2008 at 12:30 a.m.

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Bruce Benson talks to students and the public in one of two meetings held at the University of Colorado. Benson reassured faculty and students of his plans if he is selected to head the school.

Photo by Matt McClain / The Rocky

Bruce Benson talks to students and the public in one of two meetings held at the University of Colorado. Benson reassured faculty and students of his plans if he is selected to head the school.

CU students walk past the portrait of Benson in the Benson Earth Sciences Building on Thursday. The portrait was defaced with typewriter correction fluid late Sunday.

Photo by Linda McConnell / Special to the Rocky

CU students walk past the portrait of Benson in the Benson Earth Sciences Building on Thursday. The portrait was defaced with typewriter correction fluid late Sunday.

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Oilman Bruce Benson moved to reassure skeptical University of Colorado students and faculty members Monday that he will respect academic freedom and not attack tenure if he is selected to lead the school.

But some campus leaders remained in doubt after more than three hours of meetings with the sole finalist for CU president.

Student co-President Charles Gilford III said Benson failed to provide clear answers on basic questions, such as his vision for the university.

"This far along (in the selection process), one should be familiar with the issues themselves," Gilford, 20, a junior, said after a closed meeting with Benson for student leaders.

Gilford said he can't support Benson based on Monday's meeting.

He said Benson was forthright in admitting when he didn't know the answer to a question. Nor did he try to tell students what they might want to hear, Gilford said.

Physicist Uriel Nauenberg, chairman of the Boulder faculty assembly, said professors are "very concerned" about Benson's lack of academic credentials. He holds only a bachelor's degree in geology from the Boulder campus.

On the other hand, Benson's "qualifications for getting money are superb," Nauenberg said. Benson has headed fundraising drives for CU, contributing some $8 million himself.

It's not clear whether the assembly will make a recommendation, Nauenberg said following an open exchange between the faculty group and Benson.

The regents on Wednesday named Benson the sole finalist to replace President Hank Brown, who is retiring. A search committee cited his fundraising skills and ability to work with both parties at the legislature.

Besides the meetings with faculty members and students, Benson on Monday faced two hours of questions in closed sessions with administrators.

Earlier in the day, a portrait of Benson was defaced. The oil painting hangs in the lobby of the geology building, which Benson funded and is named for him.

The vandal scrawled the words, "I've given CU enough $ for an individual right-wing nut like me to be CU's president" on the painting with Wite-Out, a correction fluid dabbed to cover print on paper, CU police Cmdr. Brad Weisley said.

Questioning at the open sessions with Benson was polite, but pointed.

Benson said he would not interfere with curriculum or other academic issues, and would defer on academic issues to campus chancellors.

"I'm not going to attack tenure," he said.

Several students and faculty members grilled Benson about climate change, a major area of research at CU. Several professors wanted to know whether he shares President Bush's skepticism about climate change.

"I am an environmentalist at heart," Benson told a professor.

"You won't even be able to find the wells I drilled 25 years ago and plugged up," he said of his company's clean-up efforts.

Mark McCaffrey, a professor in the Cooperative Institute for Research in Environmental Science, told Benson bluntly he needs a briefing from CU scientists in climate change.

Benson also was questioned about his ties to conservative politics. He is a past Republican state chairman.

Senior sociology major Andee Coco, 22, pressed Benson to explain a $1,000 contribution to a defense fund for former U.S. Sen. Robert Packwood, R-Ore., in a sexual harassment case.

Benson said every accused person is entitled to a defense.

Senior biology major Medhat Ahmed, 23, asked Benson about a DUI he received many years ago. Benson responded: "If you make a mistake, you stand up and admit it and you pay the consequences . . . you learn from your mistakes," Benson said.

The Daily Camera contributed to this report.

Search process Q&A

* Why only one finalist?

Colorado law requires state colleges to disclose finalists for president. But practical considerations keep that list to only one name, to protect the identities of candidates who don't get the job.

"Effectively, the marketplace is that sitting presidents of major universities will only come forward if they're a sole finalist," said Regent Steve Bosley, who led the presidential search committee. "If they lose (the race for CU president), they can lose their (present) job. They lose credibility with their faculty."

* How much did the search cost?

$170,000 to $180,000, including $125,000 for an executive search firm, plus travel expenses for the firm and seven presidential candidates, Bosley said.

What's next?

* Regents must wait at least two weeks from the selection of the finalist before voting to give him the job.

* That vote will be preceded by a closed session where the board will consider the comments made during public forums and in private communications.

* Because the three Democrats on the board and at least one Republican are not fully committed to Benson or are openly hostile, the board could fail to confirm Benson if the members are badly split - for example, if Benson has only a 5-4 majority.

Comments

  • February 5, 2008

    11:25 a.m.

    Suggest removal

    Scott writes:

    WOW! These kiddies up at Coke U. really ask some in depth questions ... NOT!

    Scott

  • February 5, 2008

    11:33 a.m.

    Suggest removal

    TonyB writes:

    Those students and faculty members who "grilled" Mr Benson about climate change need to be reminded that Mr Benson and his staff are extremely familiar with the climate of Colorado, specifically millions of years ago when dinosaurs roamed through steaming jungles right under their feet.

    They can tell you where the inland seas were and where the jungles and plains were. They have located major areas where they existed and have tapped the pockets of oil and coal and gas they left behind. Furthermore, they have brought this material from hundreds and thousands of feet below the surface and presented it to us. Many other folks have worked this gas, coal, and oil into forms that heat their dormitories and classrooms, power their midnight lights, and run the engines they crank up each day to get to work or studies.

    Mark McCaffrey of the Cooperative Institute for Research in Environmental Science needs to be told "bluntly" that HE needs to get over to the Colorado School of Mines and learn some practical science.

    If there ever was a good argument AGAINST Gov Ritter's $100/car raid against the taxpayers of this state to support higher education, this article is it. I am personally opposed to giving even 2 cents to help a student attend classes sponsored by the Cooperative Institute for Research in Environmental Science.