Congressional staffers for U.S. Reps. Jared Polis and Diana DeGette of Colorado thanked President Stephen Jordan and the Metropolitan State University of Denver Board of Trustees for their leadership in establishing a new tuition rate for undocumented Colorado students.
The remarks by Sue Windels, Polis’ district education advocate, and Stephanie Davila-Syner, outreach liaison and senior congressional aide to DeGette, during a trustees’ meeting echoed a Nov. 15 letter the lawmakers sent to the board. In the letter, Polis and DeGette supported the University’s Colorado High School/GED Non-resident Tuition Rate and noted that a favorable analysis by the nonpartisan Congressional Research Service (CRS) found that the new rate is “within federal and state legal authority.”
Jordan thanked Polis and DeGette for their support and for seeking the CRS assessment after Colorado Attorney General John Suthers and some lawmakers said the University did not have the authority to create the new rate.
Windels told Jordan and the trustees that the congressman sent along his congratulations and thanks for being “so bold, so courageous” in helping undocumented students to pursue higher education.
Davila-Syner also thanked Jordan and the trustees for their leadership.
“We want to take this momentum back to Congress and say, ‘Look this can be done.’ We need to pass the DREAM Act. There are certain things we need to do to continue this momentum throughout the nation. So, we’re happy that it’s our home, Denver, that’s moving this forward…We’re very thankful you guys are taking the lead.”
In other action, the trustees:
-- Gave Jordan authority to approve certain curricular items while the trustees’ governance committee reviews the 2007 Trustees Policy Manual.
-- Learned that the SpringHill Suites Denver Downtown is performing better than projected. The hotel is ahead of projected revenue by more than $500,000 in the first four months of operations and consequently ahead of its projected profit by $400,000, trustee Walter Isenberg told his colleagues. “It has been extremely well received in the community,” said Isenberg, president, CEO and co-founder of Sage Hospitality, which manages the hotel.
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