05/04/2011
Comment at regents meeting blends irony, ignorance

The April 27 issue of the Faculty and Staff Newsletter reported that the Board of Regents voted in favor of tuition increases and a salary pool. I found Regent James Geddes' comment a mix of irony and ignorance: "When you look at what made this country great, it wasn't higher education. What made this country great is the free enterprise system."

The irony is that he voted against allowing CU to operate like a free enterprise. His insistence that we should function without adequate resources is delusional. The ignorance is that free enterprise is just a small part of greatness. It is freedom that lies at the bedrock of a great nation.

Barry Northrop
Assistant Director of Policies and Procedures, Accounting and Business Support
CU-Boulder

05/04/2011
Will education only be affordable to those at economic extremes?

The percentage of unemployed workers is close to 9 percent. Some unemployment is due to the loss of manufacturing jobs. Historically, workers must be trained for new jobs like IT, for example.

But when only the very (assisted) poor and the very rich can afford education, regents, what will the rest do?

Maxine Langbauer
Records Division, Police Department
CU-Boulder

04/20/2011
CU's contributions to economy should be touted

I attended President Benson's recent town hall presentation to the Boulder campus. He spoke of the difficult budget situation and its impact on the institution's ability to maintain competitive salaries, retain academic stars and to maintain the physical plant (infrastructure).

It would have been helpful to hear about the total amount of funding brought into the state of Colorado from external sources by tuition and fees, research grants, donations and other forms of income relative to the amount of money allocated to the institution by the legislature. I'm confident that the former total far exceeds the latter.

I doubt that the typical Colorado citizen with an interest in higher education is aware that CU is largely self-funded, and contributes much more to the Colorado economy than it takes out. This kind of information would support Benson's view that the organization's resource utilization is highly efficient by any measure.

Our leadership has an obligation to inform our fellow citizens of the economic and social benefits of higher ed in general and of CU in particular. I'm certain that it can be argued that investment in higher education stimulates the economy (attract business and industry, enhance job opportunities, income of college grads far exceeds that of others).

David R. Kassoy
Professor Emeritus, Mechanical Engineering
University of Colorado Boulder

03/23/2011
Questions about U.S. News' ranking methodology

While it was good to hear news about how well various CU schools have done in the recent U.S. News ranking of graduate programs, it's good to remember that these rankings can cut both ways. 

More important, though, is the issue of methodology. Malcolm Gladwell's recent piece in The New Yorker (excerpted here) provides some serious reasons to take U.S. News rankings with at least a grain of salt.

I'm all for self-congratulation, but let's be careful how much we link our (genuine) merit to U.S. News' money-making contrivance. Too fulsome an embrace of their lack of rigor will imply our own. Let's not.

David Hildebrand
Philosophy
CU Denver

03/23/2011
Being penalized for state's financial woes

I have been a state employee for nine years and it has taken me 30 years to find a job I love. However, it is becoming increasingly difficult to survive.

The classified staff employees have not received a raise in three years. Last year, insurance premiums went up and it was decided the employees would pay the state's 2.5 percent to PERA. Taxes have gone up, not to mention gas and food. I feel like I am being penalized for the state's financial problems.

In December, I fell and broke my ankle. I went on leave without pay but now I have to pay back the university for overpayment. I was told I could apply for leave share, but don't count on it. I was denied because I wasn't in the hospital dying. A broken ankle doesn't require hospitalization, but I did require two months of "residential care due to my incapacity to stand or walk."

The leave-sharing policy refers to "an unforeseeable life-altering event beyond the employee's control." I didn't break my ankle on purpose. I required surgery to repair a ligament and they put two screws in my ankle. I applied for short-term disability, which I have not seen yet, and when it comes I will just turn it over to the university. Thank you, state of Colorado, for a job I love.

Barbara Wojcik
Mathematics
CU-Boulder

03/16/2011
Let's get writing

While most of us still miss the Silver & Gold and the opportunity to read from the printed page, it is gratifying to have space in the Faculty and Staff Newsletter for our letters and opinions.

More of us should take advantage of this outlet.

Chuck Howe
Institute of Behavioral Science, Economics, Retired Faculty Association
CU-Boulder

03/02/2011
Where did my check go?

I am becoming more and more concerned about my paycheck here. I don't expect my employer to worry too much about how much comes out in tax withholdings, however the recent changes have caused some very unfair pay increases and decreases through the entire system.

I was excited to read on the White House blogs about the changes to the tax laws and the increase in pay expected to come to me, the average worker. When I called payroll and told them they must have made a mistake, I was given the bad news. I did not realize this was only for Social Security-paying workers.

Another concern of mine is the fact that I'm paying the 2.5 percent employer match of our PERA. I don't see how us paying the employer portion of our PERA is helping anyone. Isn't that money then ours when we retire? I should be able to choose how much I want to put into my retirement. With the cost of living skyrocketing out of control, I'm pretty sure I wouldn't be saving much for retirement. I have to buy milk and bread. Forget about luxury purchases. Really, when's the last time any of us had money to spend on entertainment? It's all going to necessities!

Perhaps if the state paid us livable wages, we could help contribute money back into the economy. Instead we have full-time employees who are living at poverty level making use of the state resources for assistance. How's that for skewing the numbers?

Donna Maes
Office manager, department of mathematics
University of Colorado Boulder

02/23/2011
Expansion of tuition benefit should include more flexibility

If the tuition benefit is extended to dependants (Feb. 9 issue), the current requirement that courses taken by employees must be job related should be eliminated. Why shouldn't employees also have the opportunity to enhance their education in any field of study offered at the university?

Alicia Dandeneau
Payroll & Benefit Services, CU system

02/23/2011
Ebert commentary appreciated

As a survivor of throat cancer, I read Roger Ebert's recent blog with a heavy heart and tears in my eyes. Mr. Ebert will, indeed, be terribly missed at the Conference on World Affairs. Thank you for publishing your commentary and link to the blog in the Newsletter.

Penny Davis
Procurement Service Center, CU system

02/16/2011
Metro State's proposed name change an affront to CU Denver?

The thought of a name change at Metropolitan State College, to include the word "university," is somewhat difficult to get a handle on. You cannot call a cow a duck if it sounds like a cow and looks like a cow. It remains a cow no matter how much it may want to be a duck.

Metro State has served, and continues to serve, diverse populations to the enrichment of its academic programs. This inclusive attitude brings richness to scholastic debate in the classroom. Its open-enrollment policies have opened the doors for a wide swath of students who would not otherwise have the academic rigor or motivation required to succeed at the university level.

Metro State has been an excellent teaching college, while the University of Colorado Denver remains an institution of rigorous expectations in research backed up by a demanding call to its faculty to continually raise the bar with increasing research exploration and discovery.

Clearly, each institution has a unique role in attracting and serving constituents. They choose one institution over the other, giving consideration to the varying degrees of academic rigor required for admission and to the pedigrees of faculty members who are judged by different tiers of scholastic rigor during the hiring process.

Inevitably, if Metro State achieves university status, it seems logical to assume the faculty will do their homework and seek to conduct a national survey for the purposes of ascertaining what competitive pay is at comparable-size, university-level institutions. Will the administration at this "new" institution be ready to accept the reality of a blossoming budget when they make this call? Is the state of Colorado, already reeling from financial turmoil, ready to accept the multi-million-dollar cost increase that will accompany this newly upgraded faculty?

Let each institution concentrate on what it does best for its respective student population and champion its own individual, historical strengths.

Kent Homchick
Associate professor, College of Arts and Media
CU Denver

02/16/2011
Changes to PERA, Social Security rates mean unfair 'pay cuts'

The recent announcement that Social Security withholding will be reduced to 4.2 percent from its previous 6.2 percent rate basically gives some CU employees a raise while others found their incomes reduced by the additional 2 percent PERA contribution.

As reported in the Staff Council story in the last newsletter (Feb. 9), the continuing budget shortfall brought up the mentioning of a possible 2 percent, across-the-board wage cut. Perhaps any wage adjustments should be focused only on those employees who pay into the Social Security system, because in actuality they would not be experiencing a "pay cut" as has already been felt by those in the PERA system.

Diane Streuer
Payroll and Benefit Services

01/12/2011
PERA discussion calls for perspective

Recent letters about PERA suggest that the writer has a bad case of "the grass is greener on the other side of the fence" syndrome. Most faculty have also had stagnant salaries.

If one worries about the state's reducing PERA benefits, consider the current discussion about reducing Social Security benefits.

If one would like a part of one's retirement to be in a 401(k) - like fund, recognize that the last dozen years have been very difficult for those with such retirement funds.

If those under Social Security have a one-year reduction in withholding, recognize that that is a short-term benefit only and that it most probably will result in reduced benefits.

The Great Recession is difficult for all of us. This is no time for members of one group to feel that they suffer more than members of another group.

Mike Preston
Professor of English
CU-Boulder

01/05/2011
Powerless over PERA?

Last April, the Faculty and Staff Newsletter published a letter I submitted on the topic of the 2.5 percent pay cut PERA employees received for FY11. At the time, I wrote, "(B)oth PERA and the state have proven that they can reach into our pockets and change the rules anytime things don't go their way." When the new proposed state budget is passed, PERA employees will enjoy an extension of the "temporary" 2.5 percent pay cut for an additional year.

Meanwhile, non-PERA employees face no similar cut. In fact, non-PERA Social Security contributing employees will enjoy a 2 percent pay raise in CY11 on the first $106,800 of salary. I don't begrudge them but this strikes me as an inequitable set of circumstances. I will have lived through four years of stagnant salary, two of them in retrograde, and a reduced PERA pension to look forward to.

What irks me most is knowing that the rules of the PERA-defined benefit game can change at any time; this leaves me with a sense of powerlessness. Personally, I'd rather be the rule-maker in a defined contribution plan and have only myself to hold accountable.

Barry Northrop
Assistant Director of Policies and Procedures, Accounting and Business Support
CU-Boulder

12/15/2010
Faculty Council is right to push for more communication

Kudos to the Faculty Council for aiming to improve communication, both internally and externally (Dec. 8 issue). As Chancellor Wartgow stressed at the Dec. 3 meeting with CLAS faculty, it is crucially important that the public understand how hard and constructively we work on the behalf of our students, community and state. This external message can and should be amplified.

As was also obvious at the Dec. 3 meeting, greater internal communication would benefit our system as well. At that meeting, important questions about Chancellor Wilson and branding were raised by several faculty and it would benefit our community to be able to hear or read the answers given by our chancellor and Provost Nairn at that meeting. The reinstitution of an independent conduit for news reporting about CU would go a long way toward meeting that objective.

One final thought. Perhaps the most damaging prejudice that people can have about a university is that it is insular or "out of touch."

This happens when information about important decisions and expenditures are not transparent or shared democratically. The Faculty Council seems to understand that the more we emulate a democracy (both in the ways we communicate with each other and with the world outside our campuses), the more we earn respect from the public and keep internal morale high. They are right – we need to push earnestly in this direction.

David Hildebrand
Associate professor, Philosophy
UC Denver

Faculty Council is right to push for more communication

Kudos to the Faculty Council for aiming to improve communication, both internally and externally (Dec. 8 issue). As Chancellor Wartgow stressed at the Dec. 3 meeting with CLAS faculty, it is crucially important that the public understand how hard and constructively we work on the behalf of our students, community and state. This external message can and should be amplified.

As was also obvious at the Dec. 3 meeting, greater internal communication would benefit our system as well. At that meeting, important questions about Chancellor Wilson and branding were raised by several faculty and it would benefit our community to be able to hear or read the answers given by our chancellor and Provost Nairn at that meeting. The reinstitution of an independent conduit for news reporting about CU would go a long way toward meeting that objective.

One final thought. Perhaps the most damaging prejudice that people can have about a university is that it is insular or "out of touch."

This happens when information about important decisions and expenditures are not transparent or shared democratically. The Faculty Council seems to understand that the more we emulate a democracy (both in the ways we communicate with each other and with the world outside our campuses), the more we earn respect from the public and keep internal morale high. They are right – we need to push earnestly in this direction.

David Hildebrand
Associate professor, Philosophy
UC Denver

12/01/2010
Prime parking spots for hybrid vehicles a misguided policy

I was surprised to see some spots assigned to low-emission vehicles at the Henderson Parking garage at the Anschutz Medical Campus. I find this policy to be unfair and misused.

I would love to buy a hybrid vehicle to help the environment, but it is out of my price range, with my current salary, and was definitely unaffordable when I bought my car eight years ago. Some of the hybrid SUVs don't really give out less-harmful emissions when compared to a fuel-efficient compact car, so we are really subsidizing the well-to-do. They can afford to pay more for premium spots that are reserved for the higher parking fees. I do not begrudge setting aside prime spots for carpoolers as carpooling is a positive action that should be encouraged and rewarded.

If the parking department is getting a subsidy from the state or federal government by this action to show that they care about our carbon footprint, we should all share with lower parking fees. I am resentful that I have to go around to a higher floor when there are all these parking places that are empty or occupied by a hybrid SUV.

I hope others will join me in protesting this misguided policy.

Sunanda Babu
Research associate, Barbara Davis Center for Childhood Diabetes
Anschutz Medical Campus

12/01/2010
Adjunct appreciates support for conference

I write to thank the CU-Boulder anthropology department and Chair Bert Covert for covering my conference fee for the October 2010 Governance Conference in Boulder.

I shared the knowledge from the conference with students in ANTH 1150 and ANTH 4500. As an adjunct, I was particularly grateful for this support.

Laura DeLuca
Postdoctoral scholar, Anthropology
CU-Boulder

11/17/2010
Leave size out of healthy living goals

I strongly disagree with the university's decision to offer Colorado Weigh at its various campuses (Nov. 10 Newsletter).

I do support the University of Colorado's vision of encouraging a healthy lifestyle and nutritional eating habits. However, I do not believe that my employer should imply that I ought to maintain an imaginary "ideal weight."

Some background:

• 95 percent of all dieters are unable to maintain their weight loss over a period of five years. As this study states, "Diets do not lead to sustained weight loss or health benefits for the majority of people." (http://www.reuters.com/article/
  idUSN3036700020070402?pageNumber=1)
  
  
• Weight cycling (losing and gaining weight over and over) has been associated with a decrease in health. (http://mann.bol.ucla.edu/files/Diets_don%27t_work.pdf)
  
  
• Body Mass Index is a flawed method of determining a person's overall health. (http://www.preventdisease.com/news/articles/081806_bmi.shtml)
  
  
• Focusing on the very personal facts of one's unique body shape can cause poor self-image and may even lead to disordered eating. (http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/
  articles/54635.php)

Weight and health are two different things. Encourage healthy living, and leave size out of this.

For more information, please check out "Health at Every Size: The Surprising Truth About Your Weight," by Linda Bacon; "The Obesity Myth: Why America's Obsession With Weight Is Hazardous to Your Health," by Paul Campos; and "Losing It: America's Obsession With Weight and the Industry That Feeds It," by Laura Fraser.

Shana Bergen
Program Assistant I, Office of the Registrar
Anschutz Medical Campus

11/10/2010
State needs to hear persuasive message about higher education

In this era of state-level disinvestment in higher education, I propose that our system president and the campus chancellors provide leadership advocacy for the University of Colorado and its sister institutions.

The population of Colorado, the members of the Legislature and the governor and his cabinet need to hear a persuasive message from our administrators about the contributions of higher education to the economic and social well-being of the state. I have found few examples of this type of message in the print or electronic media, which must be a partner in public advocacy.

As a retired faculty member with nearly 40 years of service to the Boulder campus and the system, I would encourage our institutional leadership people to establish a visible public relations effort to describe the benefits provided to students, to the communities, to business and industry and to the state's economic condition. This effort can be successful if the institution solicits the cooperation and participation of the media, influential private sector leaders, other higher education institution administrators, political opinion makers and parents of current and future students.

If our message is unheard, our needs will be unmet!

David R. Kassoy
Professor Emeritus, Mechanical Engineering
University of Colorado at Boulder

09/15/2010
Vacation, sick leave should be pooled for employees

As a classified staff employee, one can only acquire so many hours of sick leave. A month before the end of our fiscal year I was told by my HR person that I need to use over 40 hours of sick leave or lose it.

If I haven't used my allotted sick leave hours by now it may look a little deceiving to use them all in the month of June. Where I work, we are instructed only to use sick leave when sick and I abide by this policy. I know you can convert a portion of these hours over to vacation (a ratio of 1 to 5 total sick leave hours). I usually donate these converted hours back to those in need.

My suggestion to CU Staff Council is to bring up the issue of leave time to our state Legislature and convert all vacation and sick leave into one – personal time off. The current sick leave policy is unfair to those who do not get sick and lose this time off.

I hate to say this but if the current policy is not corrected in the future, I might have to take several mental sick days to get over this policy. I got a headache just writing this e-mail.

Kris Schoech
Collegiate Sport Clubs
University of Colorado at Boulder

09/15/2010
Vacation, sick leave should be pooled for employees

As a classified staff employee, one can only acquire so many hours of sick leave. A month before the end of our fiscal year I was told by my HR person that I need to use over 40 hours of sick leave or lose it.

If I haven't used my allotted sick leave hours by now it may look a little deceiving to use them all in the month of June. Where I work, we are instructed only to use sick leave when sick and I abide by this policy. I know you can convert a portion of these hours over to vacation (a ratio of 1 to 5 total sick leave hours). I usually donate these converted hours back to those in need.

My suggestion to CU Staff Council is to bring up the issue of leave time to our state Legislature and convert all vacation and sick leave into one – personal time off. The current sick leave policy is unfair to those who do not get sick and lose this time off.

I hate to say this but if the current policy is not corrected in the future, I might have to take several mental sick days to get over this policy. I got a headache just writing this e-mail.

Kris Schoech
Collegiate Sport Clubs
University of Colorado at Boulder

06/16/2010
Increasing guns works against safety

Editor's note: This letter was received before the Board of Regents met to discuss and vote on the issue (see story here).

I write to encourage CU to legally fight the idea that students should be allowed to carry guns on campus. I'll even contribute to the cause.

I teach freshmen and I see many struggling with their first experience living on their own, trying to set their own boundaries and behaviors. Many get depressed, guys try and act macho, girls experiment to see what makes them attractive, they do wild and crazy things they will later regret. Increase access to guns and some will make mistakes they will regret their entire lives.
I had a student stress out so much that he began thinking that I and other students were always watching him. This required professional mediation but the student continued to attend class and there was no official record of paranoia. If I thought there was the chance many students (a lot of whom are stressed, and some of whom are not sober) might be carrying a gun, it would negatively affect my teaching.

According to Livestrong.com, a teenager commits suicide every 100 minutes, usually with a handgun. Suicide is the second-leading cause of death among people age 14 to 25. It's much more common to use a gun for suicide or on a friend or relative while really upset than on a criminal. Statistics do not suggest that increasing the number of guns on campus will result in fewer deaths. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 10 percent of U.S. college students admitted serious thoughts about suicide. Seven percent had a suicide plan.

CU has invested hundreds of thousands of dollars in programs to make students safer from drugs and alcohol. Increasing the number of guns on campus works against student and faculty safety, not for it.

Douglas Duncan
Astrophysical and Planetary Sciences
University of Colorado at Boulder

06/16/2010
Plenty of news for Newsletter to address

Professor Hildebrand's letter (June 2 issue) complaining that press releases do not replace news, especially when they deal with important matters, should not be ignored. He says "we deserve real news about UCD." I agree. If the writers of the Newsletter want us to be informed, but can't imagine what we'd like to know, I have some ideas for reportage they might consider.

What are the two organizations that Chancellor Wilson will be working on for the last year of his contract? (I have not heard of either of them.) What was their importance to UCD before the news and what will it be now?

Has CU ever chosen an interim chancellor who was not already at CU? Or one with no connection to CU?

The chancellor at the medical campus has always been an MD, because (it has been thought) specialized knowledge is required to run such an incredibly complex enterprise. Can a non-MD assume this role and carry it out successfully? (In the Silver & Gold days, a reporter might have asked a few well-informed people that question.) What is the significance of the new boss of the AMC campus being called "vice-president"? Isn't that a system, not a campus, title?

So you see, Newsletter, there really is a lot of news out there for you to address. Are you allowed to do it? Are you even allowed to tell us you're not allowed to do it?

J. John Cohen, MD, PhD
University of Colorado Medical School

06/02/2010
UC Denver deserves real news

The story "UC Denver Chancellor Wilson changing jobs" (May 26 issue) merely repeated official pronouncements. While lamentable, one expects no real clues from a press release; what is dispiriting, however, is to get no real clues from a "newsletter." We deserve better. We deserve real news about UC Denver.

David Hildebrand
University of Colorado Denver, department of philosophy

04/28/2010
Latest developments don't boost confidence in PERA

E. Jill Pollock's e-memo of April 23 was both welcome and unwelcome news. I have been trying unsuccessfully for weeks to get something official about SB 10-146 from the university. My inquiry to Payroll & Benefit Services went unanswered, and finally hearing something from Vice President Pollock, while welcome, was too long in coming.

The example given in the memo does not apply to me. I will feel the full 2.5 percent impact in my take-home pay, so the attempt to soften the blow falls short. Additionally, the memo's statement that "The benefit does not change as a result of a good or bad economy" is not true for me because I plan to retire with reduced benefits to the tune of a 12.5 percent hit — the direct result of a bad economy. Or more precisely, the result of a bad choice of investments made by PERA.

The official communication we have received does not fully address the real world nor does it explain how this bill sneaked its way under our noses. Doesn't the university have a legislative liaison? Who was paying attention and when were we to be informed? I first heard about it by word of mouth in my department more than three weeks before the release of the memo.

My personal investments are back up where they were before the market meltdown. Meanwhile, PERA is deep underwater and grabbing me down along with it. I have very little confidence in my future PERA retirement and both PERA and the state have proven that they can reach into our pockets and change the rules anytime things don't go their way.

Barry Northrop
Accounting and Business Support
University of Colorado at Boulder

Editor's note: CU's Office of Government Relations maintains a directory of reports on current legislation affecting the university system. It's accessible at https://www.cu.edu/content/currentstatelegislation.

04/14/2010

Budget cuts in conflict with construction?

I don't understand the rhetoric about budget cuts and the need to increase tuition and fees when CU continues to build building after building. Departments try to use up the money left in their budgets on frivolous purchases. No raises, high health insurance costs, student fees for new buildings. Research and image before people?

Maxine Langbauer
Records Division, Police Department
University of Colorado at Boulder

04/07/2010

Past experience should be considered in self-funding health plan

In considering self-funded health insurance for the university campuses, I hope that remembering CU's history will play a role.

At one time, CU health insurance was self-funded. The savings accrued were used for other university expenses, which caused a shortfall when suddenly health care needs were higher than expected. Such practices led to CU abandoning self-funding.

I strongly urge language in any forthcoming policy to keep all health insurance savings in a health insurance account that is safe from raiding for other university needs.

Patti Gassaway
Aerospace Engineering Sciences
University of Colorado at Boulder

03/31/2010

Match Day makes for smiles, tears

Just wanted to tell you how much I enjoyed reading the article "Career journeys launch at 2010 Match Day" (March 24, 2010, issue). It even made me get tears in my eyes!

Truly, we are all employed in positions that help launch countless students on new paths. How fun to see where some are headed!

Terry Mayes
Engineering, CU-Boulder

03/17/2010
Administrators should take pay cut

I call on all university administrators to take a 9 percent pay cut to show just how serious the state funding situation is. If the students can pay 9 percent more, on top of years of tuition increases, I think the administration should share in the burden.

Mark Stevens
School of Medicine, Anschutz Medical Campus

'Rescue plan' implies taxpayer help

Regarding your PERA article (Feb. 24 issue), I object to your headline referring to recent PERA changes as "a rescue plan." This implies a taxpayer bailout and that is not accurate. The restructure and financing will be paid by PERA employees, employers and changes in future retirement benefits.

Rita Temple-Trujillo
UC Denver

Humor helps with technical transition

Like many of my fellow staff members in the CU system, I have been dealing with the huge amount of extra work that has resulted from migration to the new expense system. To give one example of many, I just recently finished working on a travel reimbursement that would have taken me 20 minutes to complete using the old process. Receipt upload issues resulted in a total of over three hours to finally complete one reimbursement. This does not even take into account the time of Brian Dyet and Mary Ellis at the PSC Help Desk as they attempted to help with the problem.

I would like to thank Mary and Brian for all their help over the last many months. They have been incredibly patient and helpful with multiple phone calls and e-mails as we attempt to pound our "square peg" travel and procurement card processes into the "round hole" of the expense system.

I cannot imagine how much extra stress and workload Mary and Brian must be dealing with as the two of them take care of all their usual Help Desk communications with the addition of what I am sure is not an insignificant amount of communications with frustrated end users of our new and improved expense system. Mary and Brian helped me laugh instead of pulling my hair out. The laughter was appreciated more than they know. Mary and Brian should be the CU system employees of the year for their expense system efforts!

Bernadette Garcia
Colorado Space Grant Consortium, University of Colorado at Boulder

Where is news coverage of campus faculty assembly meetings?

We are approaching the one-year time point since the demise of the Silver & Gold. I count exactly 14 letters to the editor during the entire existence of the Faculty and Staff Newsletter. Two of them (one is mine) discuss how few letters there are.

The demise of print journalism is lamentable on many counts, but its disappearance from our academic lives has been especially painful. At Tuesday's Anschutz Medical Campus Faculty Assembly, I made a motion (passed unanimously) that asked the administration to find funds within the budget this year to place automated external defibrillators (AEDs) in each university building on our campus. This topic has engendered considerable discussion in our meetings over the past year, yet I would predict that almost no one outside of those in attendance (about 10-15 faculty members at most) knows anything about this.

In the "good old days," one could count on press coverage of this kind of issue. The Silver & Gold would report on resolutions, the regents would read about it and, in general, there would be a system response. Instead, we find ourselves having to re-raise the issue with our administration or else it will seemingly drop off the radar. I believe we can say that the effort to have the Newsletter replace the Silver & Gold is an abject failure in terms of disseminating campus affairs to the faculty and staff, based on the responses in the letters section alone.

As a test, I invite any regent who happens to see this on his/her own (don't bother if another regent or administrator pointed it out to you, please) to contact me and I will gladly discuss the logic of having AEDs to protect the health and safety of faculty, staff and students. Maybe we could discuss the logic of a campus newspaper or at least an independent campus reporter to work on this problem.

This is not meant to be critical of the staff of the Newsletter or of the administration. Indeed, both have functioned admirably on a number of issues. Examples include the administration working very well with the faculty assembly in developing the case statement for a day care center on our campus and planning for a recreational/health center — both long-standing needs the faculty have been concerned about. My point is that without independent reporters and journalism of the kind the Silver & Gold brought to our academic campuses, we have lost one of the communication links that I view as vital to a healthy democratic environment. It remains possible that other journalists such as those from the Aurora Sentinel or Boulder's Daily Camera could attend more open campus meetings and fill this need in other ways — but we have not seen this yet.

L. Michael Glode, M.D., F.A.C.P.
University of Colorado Denver, CU Cancer Center

Alumni status should always be acknowledged

I always find it disappointing and even appalling when CU publications don't mention that someone they're writing about is an alum of CU. Maybe you didn't know, but Joanne Belknap (Feb. 17 issue) graduated from CU-Boulder with a bachelor's degree in political science in 1981.

Marc Killinger
Alumni Association, CU-Boulder

Humor helps with technical transition

Like many of my fellow staff members in the CU system, I have been dealing with the huge amount of extra work that has resulted from migration to the new expense system. To give one example of many, I just recently finished working on a travel reimbursement that would have taken me 20 minutes to complete using the old process. Receipt upload issues resulted in a total of over three hours to finally complete one reimbursement. This does not even take into account the time of Brian Dyet and Mary Ellis at the PSC Help Desk as they attempted to help with the problem.

I would like to thank Mary and Brian for all their help over the last many months. They have been incredibly patient and helpful with multiple phone calls and e-mails as we attempt to pound our "square peg" travel and procurement card processes into the "round hole" of the expense system. I cannot imagine how much extra stress and workload Mary and Brian must be dealing with as the two of them take care of all their usual Help Desk communications with the addition of what I am sure is not an insignificant amount of communications with frustrated end users of our new and improved expense system. Mary and Brian helped me laugh instead of pulling my hair out. The laughter was appreciated more than they know. Mary and Brian should be the CU system employees of the year for their expense system efforts!

Bernadette Garcia
Colorado Space Grant Consortium, University of Colorado at Boulder

Of football and finances

This past week, Boulder's Daily Camera had numerous articles about Division I football and university financing. Once again I am asking myself, 'What is wrong with this picture?'

A few examples:

• At CU-Boulder, the proposed $50 million initiative to upgrade the intercollegiate sports facilities and programs in order to be more competitive
• Elsewhere in college football, three position coaches signing contracts for over $300,000 per year, an offensive coordinator signing for $750,000 per year and one of the top paid coaches in the country getting a $1 million raise on top of his multimillion-dollar annual salary
• Elimination of CU's critical thinking requirement in order to save $200,000. (I will say that I tend to agree with those who point out that critical thinking should be a part of all university courses.)
• And tangentially related, the CU-Boulder chancellor meeting with a top football recruit. (Hopefully the chancellor also meets with every person being recruited for a teaching and/or research position on campus.)

Although I certainly enjoy intercollegiate athletic competition, I believe that the entire enterprise has gotten out of hand. I realize that President Benson will not suggest to all of the other D-I presidents that the programs be eliminated. But I would suggest that there ought to be drastic actions taken to control activities that are secondary to the fundamental mission of universities.

My recommendation: Put the coaching staff on the same pay scale as professors, with position coaches being assistant level, offensive and defensive coordinators at associate level, and the head coach at professor. Head coaches could perhaps move to Distinguished or University professor level if they bring home a national championship or two: I am thinking of coaches like Marv Dunphy, head men's volleyball coach at Pepperdine (3,000 undergraduate students, 12 NCAA finals and four NCAA national championships). And perhaps the university should pay more attention to recruiting top scholars than top athletes.

Douglas Swartzendruber
Professor Emeritus of Biology, University of Colorado at Colorado Springs

PERA's mix of assets needs to change

After attending the Boulder campus PERA presentation in which proposed legislative changes were explained, I came away with some disturbing thoughts. By reducing benefits to accommodate poor market performance, we end up with a defined contribution plan masquerading as a defined benefit plan. When the benefit guarantee is removed, the difference between the two vanishes. When the risk becomes mine, I should be entitled to make my own investment decisions. Brooding upon my pension conjures uninvited images of Ponzi schemes and gambling casinos.

I believe the PERA trust fund should invest mostly, if not exclusively, in bonds, as proposed by G. Bennett Stewart III in his June 2003 Harvard Business Review article, Pension Roulette. Meanwhile, PERA's latest reported fixed income and cash/cash-equivalent investments stand at less than 30 percent. We are all paying the price for such hubris. The Social Security trust fund invests 100 percent in fixed-income securities; because PERA is a Social Security substitute, ought we not take counsel? I hope the Colorado legislature considers this before adopting any changes because it alters the metrics of the entire program.

Fixing the funding shortfall by simply decreasing benefits and increasing contributions without also correcting the asset mix might improve the odds, but it still amounts to a roll of the dice. And, as we see, the house doesn't pay on bets that it loses. You and I do.

Barry Northrop
Accounting and Business Support, University of Colorado at Boulder

State must allocate more funding for higher ed

I am concerned about CU's fiscal policy and the initiatives that are under way to deal with the crisis. We have read about a number of proposals from the president's office about fiscal flexibility (exemption from public oversight), increasing tuition and increasing out-of-state and foreign student enrollment because they pay more.

Why have we not heard one word from CU lobbying about restoring state funding to higher ed? Why is Colorado, with one of the highest median incomes in the country, dead last in higher ed funding? This is embarrassing and a public shame. I understand that we're in a recession, but so is the rest of the country. Yet 49 other states are managing to provide more than the 3 percent of funding Colorado currently allocates to higher education.

We are in real danger of losing affordable public higher education in Colorado at a time when our kids need an education more than ever. A college education is not a luxury anymore, it's a basic need to function in today's world. Colorado's kids deserve better than this.

Dragan Mejic
Engineering College staff, University of Colorado at Boulder

January 13, 2009
Legislative coverage is welcome

I was so glad to read that you will be covering the Capitol this legislative session (Jan. 6 issue).  I and many of my colleagues are very interested in knowing about the PERA bill and the changes that will be happening to our retirement plan as well as all of higher education.

One of our main concerns regarding the demise of the Silver and Gold Recordwas that we weren't going to have anyone covering legislation that concerns us — state classified employees.

I am the chair of the legislative committee for the University of Colorado Denvers Staff Council.  I also sit on the legislative committee for Statewide Liaison Council, a group represented by the majority of higher education institutions in the state. We look forward to any information you can obtain for us during this legislative session.

Mary K. Ulibarri
Auraria Library, University of Colorado Denver

January 13, 2009
Why so few letters?

I'm wondering why there are so few letters (many weeks: none) to the editor in the Newsletter. Compared to the Silver and Gold Record, there are very few.

I'd be curious to hear from readers as to why they think there are fewer letters, though perhaps there's been a drop in readership, which would explain it (while raising other questions).

David Hildebrand, Ph.D.
University of Colorado Denver, department of philosophy

November 11, 2009
Forging twin paths of giving

As we enter the traditional season of giving, I respect the contributions the Colorado Combined Campaign (CCC) makes to our community. United Way, its partner organizations with tight budgets, donors and volunteers do so much good to help so many that I have always felt my small contribution was a good investment in our community.

I have always been torn by the Chinese proverb, "Give a person a fish and you feed him/her for a day. Teach a person to fish and you feed her/him for a lifetime," and I have usually devoted my community efforts to both areas. I believe in CU's community role as much as United Way's and therefore this year I am going to give to both CCC and CU.

I have started giving monthly to the University of Colorado Foundation. It has several programs to choose from and Jeni Webster was very helpful in getting me set up. Who knows? A member of CU's community might discover the secret to how Santa's reindeer can transport all those presents around the world in one night. My car could sure use that source of power.

Greg Roers
Accounting and Business Services
University of Colorado at Boulder

10/21/2009
Gifts from scientists immeasurable

In reference to "Conference eyes how technology can improve lives of people with cognitive disabilities" (Oct. 14): Technology ... not only did it enhance my son's life, cochlear implants are gifts from dedicated scientists that make it possible to simply hear the wind blow ... and then some.

Gary Lovato
Naval Reserve Officers Training Corps
University of Colorado at Boulder

09/30/2009
New mission statement: making it count
The Regents are not alone in their inability to figure out how many institutions comprise the University of Colorado. That has been an amusing exercise since I've worked here. Why not let the number of chancellors determine the magic number? I count three.

This institutional confusion brings up that expensive branding study. I thought that was supposed to help guide the university in figuring out our identity.

In terms of the university's mission statement, naming a number is not important. But I would suggest changing "high-quality education and professional training" to "the highest-quality."

Barry Northrop
University of Colorado at Boulder

09/30/2009
Fashion statement falls flat

It caught my eye in the sports section that the Buffs had commemorative jerseys and helmets (for the Wyoming game).

How much of the money that we don't have did this cost? We are all tightening our belts, some layoffs, some furloughs. Couldn't they have bought patches?

Diana Warren
University of Colorado Denver

09/23/2009
Feedback deserves prominent place on site

I appreciate the attempt to fill the void many of us feel now that we no longer see the Silver and Gold in our buildings. While it may not be possible to replace a print newsletter with an electronic version, nor will having insufficient staff to cover various events and meetings meet the needs of the faculty and staff, we should try to cooperate with this effort.

In this spirit of cooperation, I would like to suggest that the Newsletter have a prominent section similar to the headings "In this issue..." or "Stories" that is hyperlinked. My suggestion would be "Letters to the Newsletter," but perhaps just "Letters" would suffice. This could highlight your attempts to facilitate communication and encourage feedback.

L. Michael Glodé, MD
Professor of Medicine

Editor's note: We've added a standing link to Letters on the site. The Faculty and Staff Newsletter welcomes letter submissions from current or retired University of Colorado faculty and staff about issues of interest to the university community.

09/02/2009
Insurance companies shouldn't punish prevention

Two medical news items in the Aug. 19 Newsletter garnered my attention. First, the record-breaking SOM class is good news for the university and a key part of the solution to help contain health care costs while increasing availability of care. It takes more doctors to accomplish these two objectives.

Second, the expanded state funding for the Colorado Colorectal Screening Program is literally a life-saver. While a hands-down best-use of public dollars, it also points out the less-than-stellar state of health insurance coverage. And I'm not just talking about those without. As a university employee I have always opted for the default high-deductible coverage (currently Anthem, formerly Great West). In both cases, preventive care coverage includes colonoscopies and is covered 100 percent with one huge exception: If a polyp is found, the procedure is not covered as part of the preventive care coverage. Instead, it becomes an outpatient surgical procedure subject to the deductible. This is wrong and absurd.

I have had two colonoscopies under each company and in both cases I had to fight to get it covered under the preventive care category. I am certain many other CU employees have faced the same battle; I encourage them to contact me so that I can document this shameful practice. My hope is that CU can obtain this benefit through future negotiations with the insurance company so that individuals don't have to go it alone.

Barry Northrop
Assistant Director of Policies and Procedures
Accounting and Business Support
University of Colorado at Boulder

08/06/2009
To the editor,

If the university can afford to spend more than $700,000 on "new campus logos," but can't fight to get its employees a pay increase, then there is something seriously wrong. We read the news, too.
—Bryan Walker, CU-Boulder

06/24/2009
To the Editor,

I am amazed by the apparent complexity that has developed during the "new" branding process of the university. Even though the whole university and all campuses are under one administrative umbrella of a president and the Board of Regents, it appears that each campus should have the common University of Colorado (UC) designation. Then the individual campuses should each have their own identity:

1. UC Colorado Springs
2. UC Denver
3. UC Aurora
4. UC Boulder

It makes no difference that UCD and UCA have combined administrations to make one administrative urban university.

Now, that took me 10 minutes to develop so my fee is $7.85 (or $78.50 if I wanted to really push it), which could save our university $784,992.15.

Jim Stevens
Pathology, UC Denver

May 21, 2009
( Sent via e-mail)

Dear editor:

President Benson and at least one of the regents said that the university is not in the business of running a newspaper.

One might well ask, "What business CU is in? Football? Sweated labor? Country-club perks for the few? Commercial research? Self-serving administration?"

Paul M. Levitt
English, CU-Boulder