Spring Break
Higher education discussion tomorrow
Kaeli West
Issue date: 2/29/08 Section: News
As efforts to defray higher education costs surface at the capitol, Fort Collins legislators are encouraging commentary and questions from citizens, specifically students and faculty.
Tomorrow, students and faculty will have an opportunity to attend a town hall meeting on campus from 10:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m., to meet with Fort Collins' representatives John Kefalas and Randy Fischer, and senator Bob Bacon, to discuss their proposals and concerns about state legislation. The meeting will take place at Room 113 of the Warner College of Natural Resources building.
The discussion will be open-formatted to anything from education and the economy to the environment and healthcare, but Kefalas and Fischer said they believe higher education will undoubtedly be a high priority topic.
The two hope students will attend the meeting to give their input on current bills and suggest future legislation they would like to see changed and addressed.
"We wanted to have it at CSU this month in an effort to engage more student participation," Fischer said. "We have been working with (Associated Students of Colorado State University) on a number of issues and would like to have dialogue on some issues specific to students."
One prominent student issue is Bill 73, the Textbook Affordability Act. The bill has already passed through the Senate, and Thursday, March 6, the bill will face the House Education Committee. If the bill passes in the House without an amendment, it will then be passed to Governor Ritter who will either approve or deny the bill before the end of the session in May. If signed, the bill would take effect in August but wouldn't have impact until 2009, Kefalas said.
"If students want to tell us what they think about (the bill), this would be good timing and I can offer some suggestions," Kefalas said.
Kefalas said he suggests concerned students to write letters or provide testimony to the House Education Committee when the committee meets Thursday.
Tomorrow, students and faculty will have an opportunity to attend a town hall meeting on campus from 10:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m., to meet with Fort Collins' representatives John Kefalas and Randy Fischer, and senator Bob Bacon, to discuss their proposals and concerns about state legislation. The meeting will take place at Room 113 of the Warner College of Natural Resources building.
The discussion will be open-formatted to anything from education and the economy to the environment and healthcare, but Kefalas and Fischer said they believe higher education will undoubtedly be a high priority topic.
The two hope students will attend the meeting to give their input on current bills and suggest future legislation they would like to see changed and addressed.
"We wanted to have it at CSU this month in an effort to engage more student participation," Fischer said. "We have been working with (Associated Students of Colorado State University) on a number of issues and would like to have dialogue on some issues specific to students."
One prominent student issue is Bill 73, the Textbook Affordability Act. The bill has already passed through the Senate, and Thursday, March 6, the bill will face the House Education Committee. If the bill passes in the House without an amendment, it will then be passed to Governor Ritter who will either approve or deny the bill before the end of the session in May. If signed, the bill would take effect in August but wouldn't have impact until 2009, Kefalas said.
"If students want to tell us what they think about (the bill), this would be good timing and I can offer some suggestions," Kefalas said.
Kefalas said he suggests concerned students to write letters or provide testimony to the House Education Committee when the committee meets Thursday.
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