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University of Colorado President Todd Saliman on Thursday told the Boulder Faculty Assembly (BFA) at its monthly meeting that he wants the university to be “a national leader in sustainability,” praising CU Boulder’s Campus Sustainability Executive Council, which is working to drive action and accountability around the campus’s Climate Action Plan, but clarifying that funding sustainability efforts will come from CU Boulder and not the CU system.

“The real resources for climate action come from the campus,” Saliman said.

Saliman said the system was directing its efforts through a proposed systemwide group on climate action that is “drawing from people on each of the campuses to see what we can do to elevate this issue and to learn from each other.”

In response to a question about some CU Boulder officials having acknowledged in previous presentations that CU Boulder’s goals and timelines were not as ambitious as those of Colorado State University—Saliman said that CU Boulder’s having less ambitious goals than CSU was “not an acceptable position,” but added, “I understand the real budgetary restraints we have.”

“What we can do is identify meaningful things on each campus to implement, with the expectation that we resume that leadership position over time,” he said.

Saliman was asked to address climate action alongside two other topics: how he is working around the state to raise awareness on the value of a four-year degree and breaking down barriers to accessing higher education, and how he is working with legislators and Gov. Jared Polis on increasing CU funding.

On the first topic, Saliman said his number one focus is on “outreach”—specifically, what CU’s campuses are doing to serve all of Colorado and hitting hard on misperceptions about CU Boulder’s lack of affordability.

He said he had joined with Chancellor Tony Frank, who heads the Colorado State University system, and other higher ed leaders in Colorado in a marketing campaign called “It’s Closer Than You Think”—a reference not only to geography but also to the real possibility of attending college.

On the value question, Saliman said he’s targeting directly what he sees as a misperception among some external stakeholders and business leaders that education should emphasize vocational skills over four-year degrees.

He cited the state’s annual report on jobs, a recent version of which says that of the skills most needed in Colorado’s top tier job market, 85% require a four-year degree.

Saliman said he and other higher education leaders have been collectively lobbying the legislature’s Joint Budget Committee, “asking for $100 million more than what the governor requested (for higher education).”

“It’s a significant task. We’re lobbying hard…we have to go after it from every angle, and that’s what we’re trying to do.”

In other BFA action

The assembly heard a presentation from CU Boulder Student Government Tri-Executive Chase Cromwell asking members to support testimony before the Board of Regents next week to urge the board to ban the carrying of concealed weapons on campus, legalized in 2012 via state legislation.

More recent state legislation empowered higher education governing boards to form their own policies on concealed carry, and Cromwell said the regents “have the power right now to take action for the CU campuses.”

He said regent inaction could be a spur to possible state legislation that would take power away from governing boards and ban concealed carry on college campuses directly. “We shouldn’t give that power to states just because we don’t want to talk about guns,” Cromwell said.

The board also voted 35 to 5, with six abstentions, to approve a resolution in support of a new academic policy (PDF) that would codify—responding to Colorado state legislation and a Colorado Department of Higher Education mandate—how the campus will award credit for prior learning experiences that occur outside of the campus.

The resolution was introduced in December by the BFA’s Academic Affairs committee. Garrett Bredeson, chair of the committee; Katherine Eggert, CU Boulder vice chancellor for academic planning and assessment, and Kristi Wold-McCormick, assistant vice provost and university registrar, all answered questions on the proposed academic policy at Thursday’s meeting.

The policy includes current practices on credit for examination such as AP, IB and CLEP; further elaborates procedures for “course challenges” that allow for students to establish their prior learning of course material; and lays out procedures by which academic units may award academic credit for work-related training or experience.

Eggert stressed that faculty in the academic units will have full authority over learning assessments for course challenge, and that academic units’ proposals for awarding credit for industry experience or training will go through normal curriculum approval channels.

BFA Chair and Chancellor Search Committee member Shelly Miller updated the assembly on how the search for a new CU Boulder chancellor is progressing. Miller said the search committee is discussing the “over 60 applications” it has received in an effort to “give President Saliman between five and seven candidates to consider.” She said the committee had recently discussed with Saliman that if none of the candidates is found to be acceptable, he would “discuss with us (the search committee) what he would do before making a decision.”

Miller, who serves on the Campus Sustainability Executive Council, also reminded the board that the campus’s Climate Action Plan is ready for community review and to “let us know what you’re thinking.”

Miller also shared that the BFA has been providing moral support to members of CU Boulder’s Department of Ethnic Studies in the wake of recent traumatic incidents. Miller urged members to read the statement on peace on the department’s website and suggested they might support the department with a donation.

The board also heard a presentation from Faculty Athletic Representative (FAR) Joe Jupille of political science on how the FAR position, which he will vacate in June of 2025, operates.