Home > MetNews

Commemorative plates program may expire if interest not expired
Alumni association heads up 'Save Your Plate' campaign
By Amy Woodward
awoodwa5@mscd.edu

Photo by Jason Small • jsmall4@mscd.edu The Metro commemorative license plate may become a collectors item if the Alumni Association can’t reach its May goal of 4,000 registered participants in the specialized plate program.

Metro’s specialized licenses plates are on the brink of extinction if more than 4,000 plates are not registered by May.

To help raise awareness of the issue, Metro’s Alumni Association has started a “Save Your Plate” campaign, which is headed by Josh Anderson, assistant director of the Alumni Association.

“The DMV (Department of Motor Vehicles) along with Colorado prison systems, who produce the plate, have said that they don’t want to continue the plate if people are not interested in buying it,” Anderson said. “What we want to do with this campaign is to make students more aware of the Metro plate and the fact that it is endangered and help to create pride on the campus. There are only a handful of colleges that have specialized plates.”

Anderson said the campaign plans to set up information tables around campus and hopes to send out a mailing to current students about the campaign in December.

“Right now, our effort for this campaign is really just to get the word out,” Anderson said. “We will have small stickers that are being produced to canvass the campus, and we have tried to create a little more ease in the way people can go to the website to request a license plate voucher.”

In the past, the Alumni Association had suggested all students, faculty and staff buy a Metro license plate by having them pay a $25 to $50 donation to the Alumni Association for a voucher.
The buyer would then take the voucher to the DMV get their specialty plate.

To help raise interest in the Metro license plate, the Alumni Association has waived its $25 fee to get a voucher, making vouchers available free of charge.

Buyers will still have to pay a $25 fee to the DMV to get a specialized license plate, but it is a one-time fee, so students will not have to worry about paying the fee every time they renew their license plate, Anderson said.

Currently, 500 Metro license plates adorn allumni vehicles.

Students who have recently renewed their license plates can still obtain a Metro license plate, according to Anderson.

“What they (the DMV) do is, they pro-rate any taxes and registration fee that you have to pay, so you will only have to pay a very small fraction of what you paid to renew your registration,” he said.

The Student Government Assembly has jumped on the campaign, and its president, Jack Wylie, said their first meeting to discuss how to increase awareness and Metro pride would be sometime next week.

“I feel strongly about this campaign and think it would be sad if we lose the plate,” Wylie said.
Wylie said he thinks there could be an issue with Metro pride but said it’s more about a lack of communication.

“We don’t really promote, and that is something that we are trying to change,” he said.

Courtney Capek, a junior at Metro, said she never knew Metro had a specialized license plate.

“I think it’s a pretty cool idea, and it is more unique than a sticker on the back of your car,” she said.
Not all students share Capek’s sentiments.

“I probably will not buy a Metro State license plate,” Metro junior Tim West said. “I know the problem is there is no school pride, but I kind of like it.”