INSIGHTS: CU’s investment strategy could cost political capital
Chancellor Phil DiStefano thinks he knows what’s best for the University of Colorado Boulder, and that it’s best if he oversees a purse worth about $21 million each year instead of CU Boulder’s student government leaders.
“I want to inform you of a financial oversight decision I have made that is in the best long-term interest of our students,” he wrote in a public memo on April 4.
It’s grown-up stuff, he implies, to be responsible for money that goes to campus facilities, bond payments, staffing and student programs, as well as to put that money to work in the markets, to make moves when the price is right. All of that is true.
“As chancellor, I am charged with ensuring efficient use of all our funding and making decisions that are fiscally prudent over the long term,” DiStefano said in his memo.
In the long term, CU Boulder might handle its investments better, but in doing so, the university could squander its political capital.
Fifty-seven campus student government alumni signed a letter to DiStefano telling him to reconsider.
