Dear Editor,

Governor Owens has hurt Colorado State University’s Governing Board. This is a board appointed by the Governor to set policy and approve leadership for that state institution. By recommending a person to be this facilities next president, he for all practical purposes has overridden his own board’s most influential work. As the Chief Executive Officer of this state he needs to allow a system that follows a chain of command to function. Marc Holtzman may be the ideal president for Colorado State University. However, he might turn out to be the worst choice possible and do tremendous damage to the school. A selection process needs to be followed to discover each candidate’s strengths and weaknesses for the job. Failure on Holtzman’s part to do a good job, if he is selected, will rest squarely on the governor’s lap. And the governor would deserve it! This state has been fortunate to have strong governors in the past . McNichols, Lamm, Love, Romer. Actions like this make Owens into a lightweight. His comments about faculty choices also add a pettiness to his attitude towards academia. As citizens of Colorado we all are interested in Governor Owens’ opinion, but we don’t need him circumventing a system that gave us Al Yates. He should allow his appointees and the system to function.

J. Steven Randol, CLU, MSFS

Parachute