News

Five years ago this month, the U.S. began vaccinating for COVID-19. Looking back half a decade later, it’s difficult to remember the enormous sense of relief that brought. We had never produced an RNA vaccine before, and back in early 2020, if you’d asked those of us who studied infectious diseases about the future, I think our answers would have been pretty bleak.

It’s a sad irony that those of us who grew up in farming communities – where life and work revolve around growing and harvesting food – have a deep personal understanding of food insecurity. You learn early on that seasons of abundance can be followed by months of stretching resources to the point of breaking.

All of you know how difficult it has been to keep pace with the numerous federal changes (and subsequent court actions and administration responses) that are impacting higher education. CSU System leadership remains actively engaged with our Congressional delegation, professional organizations, and governmental affairs teams in ongoing discussions around student aid, as well as research funding, and indirect cost recoveries associated with our research mission. We’re following closely the State of Tennessee’s challenge to the law that underpins Hispanic Serving Institutions such as CSU Pueblo.

With no shortage of economic challenges, state budgets are under increasing pressure, providing a gloomy forecast for funding of public higher education. At the same time, a narrative of the “failure” of the higher education system that has been around for some time seems to be surging. Ideologically based clashes roil campus communities, creating issues of public safety. External political pressures for greater control/accountability threaten the independence of America’s colleges and universities. Turns out the 1930s were a tough time for universities.

Colleagues — President Trump issued an Executive Order this afternoon directing his Secretary of Education to take all necessary steps permitted by law to dissolve the U.S. Department of Education. In announcing this move, President Trump noted specifically that Pell Grants, Title I funding, and resources for special education will be preserved, with responsibility for those transferred to other departments.

Colleagues – by now I imagine that most of you are aware of the Dear Colleague letter from the Department of Education concerning what it terms “illegal” DEI activities.  The Department has promised more guidance in the days ahead, and while we’ll see what that holds, the 2-week time frame referenced in the letter has been driving us to think through options to remain in compliance with the new interpretation of federal law.

The National Western Stock Show kicked off its 119th year last weekend with a record opening day, welcoming the world to Denver for 16 days of livestock, entertainment, exhibits, and a full-throttle celebration of American agriculture. Even with the cold temperatures outside, there’s no warmer place to be in January than at the National Western Center for this greatest of Colorado traditions.

I’ve been thinking lately about a photograph. It’s the only photo on the desk in my office. It’s small, faded, and black and white. It’s a kid in his baseball uniform sitting dejectedly on first base, looking straight ahead across an empty ball field backed by flat cornfields as far as the eye can see. It’s a pretty depressing photo, actually, but perhaps I read more into it because I was the subject. We’d just lost our final game of an epic Little League season (or so I remember it) on an error I had committed, and my dad snapped ...

I’ve written in this space before about first-generation students – those who are the first in their families to earn a college degree. But nothing I’ve said captures the importance of the first-generation journey better than the simple observation I’ve shared above from one of our first-year students at CSU in Fort Collins. First-generation students are the foundation of the Morrill Act of 1862 and what it means to be a land-grant university.

Fall on the Midwest farm where I grew up meant pulling a 2-row corn picker with an ancient John Deere M. We kids groaned at it. We lusted after the new Uniharvester, or at least a tractor with a cab! Fall meant running the cattle and hogs in the corn stalks, digging the potatoes out of the garden, getting the apples into the cellar, eating the last watermelon right before the first frost, and the chance for a pheasant dinner with a side of #4 shot.