More than a year after becoming president of CU, members of the CU community say CU President Bruce Benson is doing a good job of fundraising for the university.
On Feb. 20, 2008, Benson was officially named the 22nd president of the CU system by CU’s Board of Regents.
In a forum held prior to his naming as president on Feb. 12, Benson spoke to CU students about what he would bring to CU should he be chosen the next president of the university.
“I have the skills that CU needs right now,” Benson said, citing his background in management and fundraising as experiences that would benefit the CU system.
Benson called the decrease in funding for higher education a crisis.
“We need to talk about alternatives and different ways to get money to fund higher education,” Benson said.
One of the alternatives he spent a significant amount of time addressing at the forum was working to change the culture of Colorado for the sake of institutions such as CU.
“There are a lot of states out there that hold higher education in very high esteem,” Benson said. “This state does not. We have to change the culture of this state or you’re not going to be able to get additional funding through additional tax revenues.”
Now that it has been over a year since the Board of Regents voted 6-3 in favor of Benson’s election, faculty and students alike are speaking to the changes he has brought to CU.
“We are better because of having Bruce here than we were before,” said Steve Bosley, chair of the Board of Regents. “CU is a very complicated educational enterprise, and he has been very… quick to understand.”
Bosley explained that in terms of fundraising for CU, money given to the school is an investment and the quality of students the university later provides to the workforce is the return on that investment.
“Last year was a record year for fundraising,” Benson said, later adding that this can be directly attributed to the work Benson has done. “When [people] say ‘I trust the leadership,’ they are going to give more money.”
According to Ken McConnellogue, spokesman for the CU system, a record $162 million was donated to the university last fiscal year. McConnellogue added that although the amount donated has not been as high this fiscal year, more people have been contributing.
This willingness to financially invest in the future of the university may be the result of the efforts Benson has put forth to accomplish his goal of changing the culture in Colorado. McConnellogue has said that last summer and throughout the fall, Benson traveled to 25 Colorado communities as a spokesman promoting the value of higher education.
Victoria Garcia, UCSU tri-executive, said she was pleased with Benson’s performance.
“I think President Benson has been a tremendous advocate for CU at the state level, lobbying for funding for CU,” Garcia said.
She added, however, the importance of the entirety of the CU community working together toward achieving greatness.
“I think the university will continue to move forward with great leadership, and it is not just the president, but a lot of other leaders who work collaboratively to press forward and carry out the goals of the university,” she said. “The students have an important stake in this opportunity and it is important for students and administration to work together and find common ground so CU can continually grow and be the flagship institution of the state.”
President Benson’s Feb. 12, 2008 forum can be viewed at: http://www.colorado.edu/news/r/3bc9102b1fd6a39453d00a2f335fff00.html
Contact CU Independent Staff Writer Sara Morrey at Sara.Morrey@colorado.edu.
