January 31, 2008 7:42 AM
Benson's bona fides: bringing home the money
Bruce Benson doesn't have an advanced academic degree but his real-world PhD in fundraising has made him the sole finalist to become the University of Colorado's next president.
Perhaps that's the new direction for university presidents: find someone who knows how to shake the money trees, especially in a state where higher-education funding is wanting.
Berny Morson reports:
Benson, 69, is a former Republican Party state chairman, but governors of both parties have tapped him for education policy councils, including the Colorado Commission on Higher Education and the governing board of Metropolitan State College of Denver.He currently co-chairs the panel appointed by Democratic Gov. Bill Ritter to look at overhauling education in Colorado from preschool through college.
Benson said Thursday he has given up all partisan activities in preparation for becoming CU president. He skipped a GOP fundraiser with President Bush on Thursday and will step down as head of Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney's Colorado campaign committee.
Benson was instrumental in campaigning for Referendum C, a 2005 ballot measure that raised funds for several state programs, including higher education.
"He irritated right-wingers of the Republican Party, but he did what he thought was the right thing," said Bosley, a Republican.
Benson holds a bachelor's degree in geology from CU's Boulder campus. He heads Benson Mineral Group, a Denver oil company.
He has spearheaded CU fundraising drives, donating about $8 million himself.
Anybody share House majority leader Alice Madden's concern about Benson's lack of an advanced degree? She said: "I assume he will be the least-educated president ever considered in modern history"
January 31, 2008
8:57 AM
CU Alum writes:
It would be a good change for CU
January 31, 2008
9:15 AM
BillHalfmoon writes:
The clown show continues!
January 31, 2008
10:13 AM
jay writes:
shouldn't they pick someone with less of a chance of dying of skin cancer?
seriously though...i think it will be a great lesson to republican partisians every where...once this guy has to go out and beg for more funding just like the presidents before him....
January 31, 2008
10:34 AM
benn writes:
As a recent CU Alum, I liked Hank Brown :/
January 31, 2008
12:09 PM
Another CU Alum writes:
Bruce if you are reading this: Please sweep out the left wing kooks destroying CU's reputation and academics.
January 31, 2008
1:24 PM
am 760 writes:
Jay, thanks for the laugh. CU alum, Liberal kooks are want keeps our government accountable and increases everyones standard of living.
You might want to Google, "Day in the Life of Joe Middle Class Republican", before you start popping off about us on the left and what we have done for this country.
January 31, 2008
4:26 PM
Anonymous writes:
Why didn't they ask Ward Churchill if he wanted the job?
February 1, 2008
8:30 AM
Anonymous writes:
am760 shows his "openminded liberalism".
What a fool and a tool.
February 1, 2008
9:39 AM
SASQUATCH writes:
Please run the place like a business, get contol of expenses and focus on education, not social engineering. If you don't, then CU becomes the object of distrust and its reputation and support will suffer. Start by eleminating the Department of Ethnic Studies and all the costly duplication that would be better handled by legitimate academic pursuits like anthropology and sociology. And there is also that very expensive Affirmative Action race Nazi and her unnecessary department that needs to be downsized.
February 1, 2008
9:55 AM
benn writes:
rofl
Sasquatch, you have about as much intelligence as your name implies.
"ME SASQUATCH! ME FOLLOW REPUBLICAN TALKING POINTS!"
Haha
February 1, 2008
10:12 AM
Scott writes:
Hey benn! I'm a democrat and I concur with every one of Sasquatch's statements. So how are you going to insult me, a fellow member of the "people's" party?
Scott
February 1, 2008
10:16 AM
Scott writes:
My fellow democrat, Komrade Madden needs to understand that Benson's "lack of an advanced degree" is an asset. He hasn't been indoctrinated by the loony left fools that infest campuses.
Scott
February 1, 2008
10:36 AM
SASQUATCH writes:
EXXON'S RECORD PROFITS just generated record taxes (government tax receipts) of about $30 billion; XOM's tax rate is about 41% of its taxable income. Now just imagine if ALL of our very many energy companies could drill and pump in areas that are out of bounds or bottled up like our Roan and Vermillion. Government tax receipts would boom and education would have a great new source of revenues.
I suggest that you get the liberal moonbats like Ritter and Salazar to realize that THEY are the obstacle that is preventing this financial boom from happening!
February 1, 2008
12:02 PM
benn writes:
Scott,
I have seen your posts on various RTL blogs and RMN articles - I would hardly call you a liberal.
February 1, 2008
12:07 PM
SASQUATCH writes:
Anybody share House majority leader Alice Madden's concern about Benson's lack of an advanced degree? She said: "I assume he will be the least-educated president ever considered in modern history"
A lot of good a virtual cornucopia of advanced degrees did for Betsy Hoffman, probably the most incompetent and ineffective university president in CU's history. So much for E=MC2 credidentials.
February 1, 2008
12:53 PM
Scott writes:
benn,
You are correct, I am NOT a liberal. However, I am a member of the democrat party. The party of liberal wimps. So again, how are you going to go after a member of the democrat party? You can't say that I'm following my "parties talking points".
Scott
February 1, 2008
1:22 PM
jay writes:
scott....your latest right wing myth is your funniest yet...keep up the good work...
February 1, 2008
3:05 PM
am 760 writes:
8:30 If you can't add something of significance to the blog, STFU
February 1, 2008
3:29 PM
Anonymous writes:
Benn, Sasquatch is the reincarnation of Hank, who predicted a soaring stock market and no inflation if the FED would just cut interest rates last year. I think he was so sure of himself and was proved to be so wrong that he had to change his name. He also thinks anyone who studies any subject that does not qualify them to be a cog in the corporate machine is wasting their time. He seems to think college should award glorified vocational training degrees and groom people to conform to live lives of quiet desperation in a cookie cutter suburb. He is also likely to complain there aren't enough conservatives teaching modern dance, introduction to water colors, and Restoration drama, so the university has a liberal bias.
February 1, 2008
4:25 PM
Time to Recall Ritter? writes:
Oh fine. Now that property values are declining by the day, we have tax-and-spend Ritter and the Democrat-controlled legislature to thank for freezing property values. Thank God for term limits.
February 2, 2008
9:48 AM
SASQUATCH writes:
200 of the CU faculty backed Big Chief Churchill of the famous "Lost Fugawi" Tribe in his war against VERITAS. May I suggest that you start by scalping this crowd.
February 2, 2008
12:49 PM
Anonymous writes:
What about the Republicans who are backing Bush's lies? Should we put them all in jail with the chief?