The Pueblo Chieftain, Oct. 23, on the ’People’s University’:
With much fanfare, officials at Colorado State University-Pueblo announced earlier this month a goal of becoming “The People’s University of the Southwest United States” within the next 10 years.
That’s a title that could easily be misinterpreted. The name actually is intended to be far less grandiose and far more practical and attainable than it may sound.
To university officials, being a “people’s university” simply means serving all the people who live in this region. That includes not only the students who excelled in high school, but also those who got Bs or Cs, but still want a higher education to better themselves.
It includes single parents who want to get a college education after spending years working low-paying unskilled jobs. It includes military veterans who have returned home. And it includes students who would be the first in their families to earn degrees.
In fact, “inclusion” is one of the key words CSU-Pueblo’s leaders use to describe their new initiative. Two others are “affordability” and “accessibility.”
So the trick is in developing a strategy that will make CSU-Pueblo more inclusive, affordable and accessible. Donna Souder Hodge, CSU-Pueblo’s executive director of organizational development, said a group of university leaders will be working on an implementation plan between now and February, when it’s hoped that plan can be presented to the Colorado State University System Board of Governors.
Souder Hodge said part of that task involves recognizing what CSU-Pueblo is not. It isn’t a major research university. Nor is it a small liberal arts school. It’s a “regional comprehensive” school with a primary focus on serving the people of Pueblo and Southern Colorado.
Souder Hodge said the goal is to give students more than “disciplinary knowledge” - that is, the subjects they study in the classroom - but also to help them develop the critical thinking skills and adaptability needed to survive in an ever-changing world. In other words, the old idea about teaching students not just what to learn, but how to learn.
As for being a university for “the Southwest United States,” that does sound a tad grandiose. But as Souder Hodge explains it, the goal really is to become the university within the Southwest that does the best job of being inclusive, affordable and accessible.
Maintaining a strong connection to Pueblo in everything the university does is a key part of the strategy, she said.
If that’s the case, what CSU-Pueblo is trying to do makes a lot of sense. The university should reach out to nontraditional and traditional students alike. As long as university officials define their niche and keep the school within it rather than trying to be all things to all people, the CSU-Pueblo of 10 years from now can be stronger than the CSU-Pueblo of today.
And if it is, our whole community will be better for it.
Editorial: https://bit.ly/2EK87hY
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Durango Herald, Oct. 23, on Hickenlooper’s successful terms in office boding well for the national stage:
Governor John Hickenlooper was in town last week, visiting Durango as part of his farewell tour of the state.
It was a great to sit down and talk with a man who is still, even after two terms as mayor of Denver and now two terms as governor, a politician who seems to defy many of our assumptions about politicians.
Looking hard at assumptions and defying them, even when those assumptions have been accepted as gospel truth, seems to be a key to his success.
He did it again last week.
“Look, I am not the voice of the Democrats,” he said early in his interview with the Herald. “Because we should be the voice of small business. We should be the party of farmers and ranchers. Instead we get hammered as the party of red tape, the party of big government.”
And he continued: “Democrats do think that government can be part of the solution, but why can’t we also be the party of smaller government at the same time, using technology and efficiency to reduce its size?”
Defying assumptions played a large role in what he described as one of his proudest accomplishments, Colorado’s methane rules.
The regulations that prevent methane gas emissions - recognized as a model for other states and now being implemented by Canada and likely soon by Mexico - came from efforts to bring environmentalists and executives from the oil and gas industry to the table, opponents most assumed would never see eye to eye.
It was not easy, but Hickenlooper and his staff managed a process that went (in the governor’s words) from “the very essence of the Hatfields and McCoys” to agreement on a set of rules that in terms of greenhouse gas reduction is equivalent to taking 320,000 cars off Colorado roads every year.
“You need to sit down and listen to the person you most disagree with,” he said. “The person you most distrust. And come up with something neither has envisioned. We need to do this at a national level.”
He described his process even better in a recent interview with Colorado Public Radio: “We’re still attacking and dividing each other. What Colorado’s done (has) been about working together, collaborating at the speed of trust.”
We know where John Hickenlooper came from: the kid who struggled with dyslexia in school and had to repeat seventh grade. The college grad with a geology degree who found himself dead-ended in the oil and gas industry. The successful brewpub entrepreneur who played a key role in the revitalization of Denver’s Lower Downtown neighborhood. The man who did not make his first run for public office until the age of 50.
But that does not tell us where he is headed next. Many Coloradans think they know. His farewell tour of the state, they say, is really a hello tour to the rest of the country.
The governor is not saying, and likely won’t until spring. Regardless of election results, we will miss the way he approaches problems, and his stubborn knack for bringing people together until solutions can be found.
We can’t assume to know his future, but we hope he is setting his sights high.
Editorial: https://bit.ly/2NXuaB3
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(Colorado Springs) The Gazette, Oct. 22, on teen suicide being a growing crisis in Colorado:
Just last week, one more teen killed himself in northern El Paso County. Newspapers don’t usually cover suicides for fear of encouraging copycats or bringing more pain to grieving families, but this needs to be known. Silence has not been working. We have a very sad and terrifying problem. Our most precious assets are in crisis. Whether it’s in Briargate or Security, our children are feeling hopeless and making decisions that are the absolute definition of final.
Suicide is the leading cause of death for those between 10 and 24 in Colorado. The Colorado Health Institute reports that in 2017 Colorado recorded 1,175 deaths because of suicide - the highest number in the state’s history. This mirrors the national numbers, which have almost doubled in the last decade.
Last week, Colorado’s Attorney General Cynthia Coffman declared a crisis in Colorado when it comes to teen suicide. Her office has pledged $2.8 million to support an initiative to fight the trend. It’s a crisis we can no longer gloss over or avoid. And in El Paso County, the suicide rate among youths under the age of 18 has increased in recent years, from seven completed suicides in 2014 to 14 completed suicides in 2015 and 15 completed suicides in 2016. Suicides accounted for over 50 percent of child fatalities among youths under 18 in the county.
Monday, students and parents from two school districts in our area will meet to discuss depression and bullying. We need more efforts like this in our community.
Local resident Anne Marie Pacitto, who has two teenage sons, says she dreads reading high school newsletters and seeing the announcements of another death, another suicide. She ponders the reasons. “Is it the parents? The educators? Child abuse? The luxury of electronics? Social media? Drug abuse? Bullying? Racism? Homophobic slurs? Academic pressure? Was the kid a social loner who had no one? Does it matter?”
Statistics show it is probably all of the above and more that results in the premature loss of young lives before they have really begun to live.
There are programs available to help teens and families deal with the issues. Many churches have assistance options. But a stigma still surrounds depression, and many never seek assistance.
Pacitto’s son told her “kids don’t reach out, because what is going to happen is that repercussions happen that make their lives worse. They are humiliated and stigmatized, and they feel worse.”
Pacitto dissects today’s world well. Our kids grow up with parents who are often trapped in their problems and addictions, she says. Adults are struggling to understand the world themselves and are not capable of being supportive and nurturing. They are on the treadmill of success and sometimes never know the despair that their children cope with every day.
In times of disaster or crisis, our community is known for its ability to come together. We must confront this issue, de-stigmatize depression and work together for a solution.
Yes it is a sensitive, private matter, but there has to be an answer to this problem that affects us all.
Editorial: https://bit.ly/2D4OjEr
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