The University of Denver launched The Denver Difference Celebration on Thursday night. Delayed by COVID-19, the fundraising campaign aims to add $1 billion to DU’s operations and endowment. Currently, the University of Denver’s endowment is estimated to be slightly more than that but no details were provided at the launch regarding the split between campaign funds into the endowment, ongoing operations, or capital projects. DU reported that half the target pledges, $500 million, were made ahead of Thursday’s launch.
A University of Denver announcement called the launch “A $1 billion campaign that is opening opportunities for DU faculty and students to achieve their aspirations. Students bring their ambition to DU and graduate with the skills and ethical mindset to champion a better tomorrow.”
The campaign is centered on several key areas: Continued support of DU’s research efforts as the sole private R1-designated university in the Rocky Mountain Region, grow academic scholarships to support undergraduate and graduate studies, support ongoing efforts on the Kennedy Mountain Campus, and embed and reinforce the 4D experience (intellectual growth, well-being, character development, and careers and lives of purpose) at both the metropolitan and mountain campuses.
Particular emphasis was placed on the introduction of an Academy of Civil Discourse and Free Speech. The goal of the Academy will be to encourage diversity of thought and pluralism on campus by teaching and encouraging the development of skills that encourage the open exchange of divergent opinions using fact-based discussion. Time will tell what this initiative will look like on campus.
Of particular note, during the Campaign Launch Celebration, Chancellor Jeremy Haefner cited the importance of athletics to the University of Denver, the city, the region as well as the university’s national profile, echoing much of what has been published on this site, contending that Denver Athletics serves as the University’s ever-important ‘front porch.’ Athletics were also said to leverage many of the characteristics outlined by the 4D student experience.
The Denver Difference campaign is expected to be a multiyear endeavor. No details of further capital campaigns were offered during the introductory event.
I’m disappointed with the lack of information on the capital campaign’s website. Everything is so abstract it is difficult to understand what exactly the University is trying to do. They might as well just put one sentence that says “goal: make things better”.
Academics (and the committees they serve) are more concerned about including everything than they are about making a sharp point who who they are, what they want and why they want it. That case statement needs help…
Yeah, I will root for DU in their fundraising, but the description of goals (at least as summarized in this article) is so vague as to be virtually meaningless. Way to get people fired up!
Really vague. Little to nothing concrete. The vision and use of the funds should be more specific and much clearer. My $$$$ will continue to be directed toward athletics, where I can see tangible results.
I’m glad they’re focusing on an institute to encourage civil discourse and free speech. That’s sorely lacking on the vast majority of college campuses. It’s an issue that they can be at the forefront of if they execute correctly. They need to be more like Dartmouth and less like Harvard/Columbia.
I’m thankful that DU is a signatory to the Chicago Statement on campus speech, but I lament the fact that they still score comparatively weak on a lot of measures for speech on campus (see FIRE’s 2023 free speech rankings).
The other development effort I was hoping would come to fruition was the creation of a med school. There was an article in the Denver Post a while back stating that the creation of a med school was under discussion. Then there was never another word about it and the issue seemed to completely vanish from both the press and campus communications.
A state of Colorado’s size, growth, and geographic position should have more than one university medical school. Now it looks like the University of Northern Colorado will fill that void with a new osteopathic school. I think this was a missed opportunity by DU that could have been the headliner of a new campaign.
A med school makes no sense for DU.
Actually, a med school could make sense at DU, but it would need vast funding to make it work, which is why DU gave up on the idea in 2011-12, when the idea was last seriously studied. DU already has several excellent professional grad schools – law, business, social work, professional psychology and international relations, so it fits in terms of DU’s mission to serve the public good. Recruiting staff and students to Denver is a double-edge sword – Denver is a highly-desirable, growing city (and state) and DU is a university with regional prestige (all good) with a relatively high cost of living (a drag), relative to many other US markets. Starting a med school is probably a $500 million project these days, and DU would need a huge investment from local health care networks, etc. as clinical partners in such a venture, plus DU’s own money to cover whatever shortfalls there might be. CU (who has a basic monopoly on medical education in the state) of course will blame the Dr. shortage of residency programs/places, rather than welcoming a new competitor, like DU.