Sometimes when you least expect it, someone makes a difference in your life. A food service worker at Centennial Halls, Benita Foote, needs our help. Her daughter, Tanasia Famber, has established a GoFundMe page to help her mother with transportation. Ms. Foote has been employed full-time at DU for the last 16 years. Unfortunately, she was in a serious car accident and has preexisting diabetic neuropathy which makes her 3:00 am walk to the bus a challenging task. The funding goal is to raise $10,009 for regular transportation from her home in Aurora to the University of Denver campus. Continue reading Outstanding DU Food Service worker needs our help
Category Archives: University of Denver
20 Years of Ritchie Center: 10 Things we Love
–Williams Tower. The gold steeple has become an iconic Denver landmark
-Whispering Lip Sculptures in the south courtyard. Sure they sometimes don’t whisper but who cares – they’re cool. Continue reading 20 Years of Ritchie Center: 10 Things we Love
DU falls to #97 in US News Rankings; Continues 8-Year rankings backslide
In some disappointing news, the University Denver has fallen an additional slot from #96 to #97 in yesterday’s (Sept. 9) release of the annual US News and World Report Ranking of National Universities, the most well-known US university ranking system. The fall marks yet another downward notch in a near-continuous DU backslide since 2012 when DU ranked #82, and brings DU another step closer to falling out of the top 100 altogether. Continue reading DU falls to #97 in US News Rankings; Continues 8-Year rankings backslide
DU’s Promises Made, Promises Broken
In the movie, Mary Poppins says, “Sounds like a ‘pie crust promise’ — easily made and easily broken”.
Well, DU makes a whole lot of pie crusts, which is especially rich coming from a school that promotes its honor code and pitches us continually on the virtues of its integrity. As administrators change frequently at DU, it’s important to remind those in power at DU that we alumni and fans have long memories, and we notice when our school lies to us or tries to trick us regarding the University of Denver’s cherished identity.
Here is a brief recap of DU identity-related trickery over the last 18 months: Continue reading DU’s Promises Made, Promises Broken
New School Year Begins Today
Hard to believe but yet another school year is upon us. The 2019-2020 school year is certain to be a good one as several of DU’s fall sports teams have gotten off to quick starts. And, the best is yet to come.
Go Pioneers!
Welcome to DU! https://t.co/wscBhTg23L
— DU Admission (@DUAdmissions) September 4, 2019
Aspen Hall green space nears completion
We followed the demolition of Aspen Hall in an article last December. The 1950s structure had reached the end of its useful life and is now an open space located northeast of the Johnson-McFarlane Halls. Continue reading Aspen Hall green space nears completion
Denver public gives giant thumbs down to DU’s nickname meddling by 100-1 ratio
The Denver public has spoken loudly, and they clearly don’t want DU to mess with the Pioneer nickname — by a 100-to-1 ratio.
For a University that wants more engagement with the local metro area as a high strategic plan priority, this firm rebuke of DU’s recent efforts to erase the Pioneer name should provide quite a clear roadmap of how NOT to win public favor.
A Channel 7 Denver 360 TV news report gave us our first chance to measure local public reaction to DU’s recent efforts to erase the Pioneer nickname on the DU Campus. And there was an overwhelming reaction on the station’s Twitter and Facebook pages, supporting the Pioneer nickname by a ratio of nearly 100-to-1. Continue reading Denver public gives giant thumbs down to DU’s nickname meddling by 100-1 ratio
Puck Swami’s Rapid Reaction: Creech Reorganizes DU Athletics Division
DU’s Vice Chancellor for Athletics and Recreation Karlton Creech has reorganized the athletic department’s structure after 17 months of observing DU’s high-performing athletic division. The changes come following the long-planned retirement of Ron Grahame, Creech’s principal deputy, who is retiring this week after decades of service to DU.
Joining DU will be three new faces — former Maine Senior Associate Director of Athletics Lynn Coutts; former Miami (Fla.) Senior Associate Athletic Director for Administration Josh Boone; and former Miami (Fla.) Assistant Athletic Director for Annual Giving Emily Boone. Two of these three new faces (Coutts and Josh Boone) will be on Creech’s senior team, along with several promoted DU veteran leaders taking on greater roles under Creech, specifically Deputy Athletic Director and Chief Revenue Officer Brandon Macneill, Deputy AD and Chief Operating Officer Stu Halsall and Deputy AD for Community and Diversity Bob Willis. Continue reading Puck Swami’s Rapid Reaction: Creech Reorganizes DU Athletics Division
Pioneer Card fiasco illustrates how DU’s version of ‘inclusive excellence’ fails community
LetsGoDU has confirmed that a handful of DU students and administrative officials were the key drivers behind the removal of the words “Pioneer Card” from campus-wide ID cards, rather than being merely an “unfortunate error” or a “communications breakdown”. Emerging details suggest DU Communications, which previously offered those excuses, may also have been misled about the scheme.
A former (recently graduated) Clarion editor recently posted a Facebook comment to our previous article, confirming that the removal of the words “Pioneer Card” was not an error, but was “a student-run initiative”. (Although the commenter would not provide further information, it is known that this was not an act of the campus-wide University Student Government.) Further, as the ordering of all campus-wide identification cards is surely not within the purview of whatever students were behind the “initiative”, it is clear that a DU senior administrator must have been deeply involved. Continue reading Pioneer Card fiasco illustrates how DU’s version of ‘inclusive excellence’ fails community
BREAKING NEWS: DU removes “Pioneer Card” name from DU identity cards
In yet another stunning move, DU is now issuing University ID cards which lack the “Pioneer Card” header that had previously been on the cards, as depicted in the above photos. Since at least 2006, DU had issued “Pioneer Cards” to all students, faculty and staff as DU’s official identity and access card. This decision effectively severs the most visual, tangible and authoritative Pioneer nickname linkage between the University and the cardholding DU community.
This move appears to be another in a coordinated series of DU-initiated steps to remove the word “Pioneer” from common campus usage. Just a few months ago, DU changed the 94-year old Pioneer Awards to Crimson and Gold Awards and a few weeks ago, DU changed the Pioneer Passage freshman orientation program to “New Student Convocation”. Each of these changes has been made despite DU Board of Trustees 2018 assurances that DU would in fact, retain the Pioneer nickname. Continue reading BREAKING NEWS: DU removes “Pioneer Card” name from DU identity cards