Colorado State University Names Committee to Review Collegian Proposals; First Meeting Slated

A committee to review proposals requesting partnerships with or other changes to student media at Colorado State University will meet Thursday, Feb. 14 to hear its charge and begin discussions. The committee is made up of students, faculty, staff and community members.

The committee, named by Blanche Hughes, vice president of Student Affairs, will meet from 4 – 6 p.m. in D.C. Bottoms in the Durrell Center. During the first meeting, the committee will hear information that further defines its charge. The meeting is open to the public.

President Larry Edward Penley asked Hughes to appoint a committee to review proposals submitted to the university regarding the Collegian.

The committee was formed after the Fort Collins Coloradoan approached the university to discuss a partnership with the student paper.

The university has not yet received proposals, but will begin meeting to set guidelines and standards of how proposals should be submitted and measured, and to set a timeline for the process. The committee is scheduled to meet weekly. If any proposals are submitted, the committee will begin reviewing them later this spring.

Once proposals are reviewed, Hughes is charged with providing a recommendation to Penley, who will review the information and potentially make a recommendation to the Board of Governors of the Colorado State University System.

Penley has stated that only proposals that enhance educational opportunities for students; enhance career opportunities for students; enhance relationships between journalism faculty and student media; and improve student media services to the student body would be considered for review.

The committee is chaired by Hughes. Confirmed committee members are Anne Hudgens, executive director of Campus Life; Mario Caballero, associate director of student media; Greg Luft, journalism professor; Katie Gleeson, Associated Students of Colorado State University president; Seth Walter, ASCSU senate and Student Fee Review Board student media representative; Christina Dickenson, student member of KCSU; Sean Reed, Collegian student editorial staff; Josh Middleton, student and CTV staff; Stephanie Gerlach, student and College Avenue staff; Jen Cross, sociology assistant professor; Craig Chesson, director of Conflict Resolution and Student Conduct; and Melanie Huntrods, student and member of the Student Board of Communications.

Community members of the committee are Scott Perriman, owner of eight local newspapers and a Colorado State graduate and Fred Brown, Denver Post editor and columnist and alumni.

Clarissa Crozier, executive director of the Colorado High School Press Association, also has been invited to serve on the committee.

Additional non-voting ad hoc members include Amy Parsons from the university’s Office of General Counsel and Dell Rae Moellenberg from the Department of Public Relations.

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