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CU Boulder Chancellor Philip DiStefano told the Boulder Faculty Assembly at its regular monthly meeting on Thursday, April 6, that he supported the shared governance group on the need to end concealed-carry; that he was optimistic that CU Boulder’s conference center, now under construction, would be affordable to small campus academic units; and that he understood that some CU Boulder instructional faculty do not feel valued on campus.

He also offered thoughts on the Bruce D. Benson Center for Western Civilization and offered praise to Colorado lawmakers for their support of academic freedom for CU faculty.

Opening remarks

DiStefano opened the session with a list of 2022–23 CU Boulder achievements that included the opening of the Renée Crown Wellness Institute, Boulder’s annexation of the CU South property, the Right Here Right Now Global Climate Summit, the creation of the university’s common curriculum, the diversity, equity and inclusion efforts that include “30-plus units working on the goals that came out of the Idea Plan and the work of the IDEA Council,” and breaking ground on the conference center.

He also used the opener to praise the Colorado General Assembly for its approach to curriculum and academic freedom, unlike, he said, lawmakers in “Florida, North Carolina, and Idaho . . . where legislators are making decisions about higher education including tenure, budgets for DEI and courses that should not be taught. “Our legislature has been so supportive from the standpoint of what we teach, how we teach and academic freedom. I’m pleased about that,” DiStefano said.

Q&A

In the Q&A session that followed DiStefano’s update, BFA member David Paradis told DiStefano he was concerned about renewing the charter for the Benson Center, given the actions of former visiting scholar and indicted Jan. 6 conspirator John Eastman and “misinformation by conservatives” within the Benson Center regarding COVID-19 masking.

“I’m all for having a conservative voice on campus . . . but,” Paradis said. “Can we come up with a way to make the Benson Center a voice for constructive conservatism instead of destructive conservatism?”

DiStefano said he supported bylaw changes that the director of the center made that involve only the faculty on the search committee voting on visiting scholars and was supportive of the Benson Center being renewed.

BFA member Seth Hornstein asked DiStefano to clarify what he knew about the likelihood of the CU Board of Regents passing a measure to ban concealed carry on campus. The Colorado Legislature last year modified the Colorado Concealed Carry Act to permit the governing boards of institutions of higher education to enact rules limiting concealed carry on their campuses.

CU Boulder shared governance groups, including CU Student Government, Staff Council and the BFA, have put forward resolutions calling for an end to concealed carry. The resolutions have also been endorsed by CU Boulder’s Staff Council and Graduate and Professional Student Government. DiStefano said that he agreed with the resolutions, calling for an end to concealed carry.

The chancellor also took a question from BFA Vice Chair Alastair Norcross of philosophy about the conference center, now under construction at the northwest corner of campus, and whether or not it would be affordable to smaller departments like his own for conferences and symposia.

DiStefano assured him it would be, saying “we’re making sure we can set aside rooms—affordable rooms—so that we can have conferences for professional societies on the campus.”

“The whole idea around having a conference center on the campus is for our faculty, the federal labs and the community to hold conferences here in Boulder instead of going elsewhere. Rooms and rental charges will be affordable for our professional societies,” he said.

BFA member Rolf Norgaard, at-large BFA representative from the College of Arts and  Sciences, sought DiStefano’s reaction to the results of a BFA survey of instructional faculty that produced data that Norgaard said was “troubling.”

“While 60% of teaching faculty said ‘yes’ emphatically that their work is respected in their unit, it drops to 30% when speaking of colleges and schools on the campus,” Norgaard said.

DiStefano followed up by saying  “I have not done enough in talking about this with our constituents. I have to do a better job . . . in communicating to the campus and our external constituents the value of our teaching faculty.”

He said he was aware that some teaching faculty are well integrated within departments while others aren’t and said the issue is one he would continue to work on in partnership with Provost Russell Moore and the chairs and directors.

In other action at the meeting

The BFA:

• Heard a presentation from CU Bookstore officials Brian Groves and Jessica Carlsen on the new CU Book Access program, which offers students a single flat subscription price per semester for all required course materials. Numerous faculty expressed support for the program. There were also many questions about opt-out and payment options for students, and course material selection options for faculty members. An additional concern was the temporary ownership of the materials, as faculty noted the value of the books one reads in college, sometimes long after graduating.  
• Introduced a resolution to endorse an Academic Affairs policy creating a campus curriculum committee. The resolution will be voted on at the May BFA meeting. A draft of the policy has been circulated to BFA representatives.
• Voted to adopt a resolution to ban concealed-carry on CU Boulder’s campuses (PDF). BFA member Shelly Miller, executive committee at-large representative, spoke in favor of the resolution, as did CUSG executive Rachel Hill. The resolution will be presented to the CU Board of Regents at the upcoming University Affairs Committee meeting on April 18.  
• Viewed a slide deck of survey results of instructional faculty, presented by Norgaard, which revealed more data alluded to in Norgaard’s exchange with the chancellor regarding instructional faculty and showing that there “is a lot of work to be done” in improving the experience of instructional faculty. 
• Solicited nominations for candidates for BFA chair. Nominations are open until April 18.