New president visits with chancellor, faculty
New CU President Bruce Benson had a full schedule Tuesday afternoon on the CU campus.
Benson spent his time Tuesday with Peterson and several faculty and staff members in the chancellor’s office. According to a CU press release Benson was then scheduled to go on a “walking tour of the campus,”. However when he left the chancellor’s office at about 3:30 p.m. accompanied by Peterson, CU officials, and media representatives, Benson only had time to walk straight to the UMC. There he met in a reception with CU officials until about 5:00 p.m.
“He’s been with us all afternoon,” Peterson said after the reception. “We had a whole series of meetings.”
Peterson referred to Benson’s earlier meetings in the day as an “overview” of the campus.
“[CU] is a big place,” Peterson said. “It’s a complicated place.”
Nearly 80 CU officials and members of the campus community attended the reception. Peterson briefly spoke to welcome Benson back to campus before Benson addressed the audience and then met personally with several officials.
Benson focused on pointing out recent successes for the university in funding.
“CU had the best fundraising year ever last year,” Benson said, citing that CU had raised about $133 million.
Benson also said he would “keep in touch with our folks down at the capital” in relation to the Long Bill which Benson said could bring an additional one million dollars in funding to CU.
“While the new money is welcome, it’s not nearly enough,” Benson said. “We need to have people understand why we need the money”.
Senior environmental studies major Amy Harris, 21, attended Benson’s reception. Harris is the sustainability director for the University of Colorado Student Union.
“It was very casual,” Harris said of the reception. “I’d really prefer to have an intimate setting for student leadership”.
Sophomore political science major Dan Omasta, 20, also attended the reception with Harris. Omasta is a chair of the Colorado Public Interest Research Group and a candidate for UCSU representative at large on the Drive ticket. The two student leaders came to the reception to approach Benson with an idea for a $50 million “revolving fund” for energy efficiency
“I’m really encouraged by how up to date he was on these issues,” Omasta said. “He’s had a history of working with the conservative party.but Mr. Bruce Benson has committed to dissolving ties with the Republican Party.”
Tori Peglar, editor of the CU alumni magazine “The Coloradan”, accompanied Benson from the chancellor’s office to the reception.
“Last time I was in this room was when President Benson was taking questions from faculty and students,” Peglar said after the reception. “I thought it was pretty charged back then and you know today it’s totally a different feeling.”
When asked how the reception went, Benson replied “I didn’t see anybody scowling”.
Contact Campus Press Staff Writer Sam Dieter at Samuel.dieter@colorado.edu.
