In 2020, Colorado State University will celebrate its 150th year as a University. Yet before that time, the University is looking to redefine and re-envision its values and goals for the next 150 years.
Re-Envsion Colorado State, a plan announced during CSU President Tony Frank’s Fall address this past fall, has started its initial phase of gathering ideas from various members of the CSU community. The ideas, which can be submitted through a digital form, will then be evaluated, selected and given a budget to start the lengthy process of redefining the foundational goals and values of the University.
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Along with a digital form, the University’s Center for Public Deliberation, faculty, staff and student leadership will engage the campus in a yearlong process to assess and ask questions about what the community wants CSU to look like in the coming years.
“We want everyone on campus and in our extended CSU family to share their ideas — large and small — on how to make the university better, more responsive, and more engaged in all that we do,” faculty council chair Mary Stromberger said in a CSU press release.
The faculty council was one of the University groups charged with moving the Re-Envision process forward. Recently, the Collegian reported on two Faculty Council resolutions currently in committees: one recommended the University cut from the athletics department budget, and the other asked that the football program be eliminated entirely.
Re-Envison was announced during a school year in which the University may face a $3.8 million decrease in state funding. Historically, state funding trends have been going down, meaning the University has had to rely on increased student tuition rates.
Yet despite the lessening state budget, CSU has spent a variety of recourses on updating and constructing buildings and facilities, including an on-campus stadium, new health center and a variety of other academic buildings. The majority of these efforts were funded by bonds, long-term loans the University pays off at a set interest rate. As of August 2015, the amount the CSU System spent on bonds and other costs has meant the University is $1.1 billion in debt.
According to a CSU Press Release, Re-Envsion will look beyond facts and figures to determine “what the University can be and how it will continue to thrive for the next century and a half.”
Collegian Executive Editor Skyler Leonard can be reached at News@collegian.com or on Twitter @Skyler_Leonard.
