The Rocky Mountain Collegian

Issue date: 3/2/09 Section: News

Media Credit: Katie Stevens In an effort to express interest in the CSU Chancellor position, former U.S. Sen. Wayne Allard meets with ASCSU President Taylor Smoot and Vice President Quinn Gerrins in Smoot's office in the Lory Student Center on Friday. Allard served as a Republican senator from 1997-2008 and as the representative of the 4th district from 1991-1996.

Though his interest in the CSU chancellor role is drawing criticism from local advocacy groups who say his socially conservative stances are exclusionary, former U.S. Sen. Wayne Allard told student leaders Friday his work in higher education would cross party lines.

Allard met with Taylor Smoot and Quinn Girrens, president and vice president of the Associated Students of CSU, in a closed-door session to determine what the needs of CSU students look like and how he could best fulfill those duties as chancellor, Smoot said.

The chancellor position is one that the CSU System Board of Governors officially created just last Wednesday in an effort to keep a system head in Denver at all times to adequately represent the structure -- which includes the CSU-Fort Collins, Pueblo and Global campuses -- to the state legislature and act as a fundraiser.

Allard, a CSU alumnus who recently ended his 12-year tenure in the U.S. Senate, called BOG chair Doug Jones soon after former CSU President Larry Penley's Nov. 5 departure to express his interest in the then-only potential chancellor role.

Local advocacy group Progress Now made their opposition to the idea of Allard's chancellorship publicly known almost immediately after the former senator announced his interest, saying Allard's top priority during his tenure was "interfering in other people's privacy by pushing to amend the U.S. Constitution to discriminate against gay and lesbian couples."

Smoot, who called Allard "a great guy" who had given much to CSU in his time and lobbying efforts in Denver, said the former senator's visit was a testament to the fact that he is taking his interest in the role seriously.

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