American Association of University Professors @ Colorado State University

In January, President Parsons asked all units at Colorado State University to submit budget cut proposals of at least 8.75% of expenses. On Monday, CFO Brendan Hanlon announced his committee’s recommendation to cut 178 full-time equivalent positions at CSU. Yesterday, many of our colleagues were given notice that their positions will be terminated.

Even as our friends and coworkers are being laid off, CSU’s administration is not providing any information about what jobs will be eliminated until after the Board of Governors finalizes its proposal. Many of us are frustrated and confused by the opaqueness of the entire process.

The American Association of University Professors CSU Chapter believes that transparency is necessary for accountability. The campus community requires information about these cuts as soon as possible. 

Towards that end, we are surveying faculty for information you may have about budget cuts in your unit. We would appreciate any information you can share via this short confidential survey. We also want to hear from you about your thoughts and concerns about the process by which these cuts are being decided.

Please join AAUP-CSU at 1:00-1:50pm on Wednesday, March 11 in 386 LSC to learn about our colleagues’ “Forbidden Knowledge.” 

Many of our colleagues here at CSU are facing bans and funding cuts due to their research topics. This Teach-In sponsored by the American Association of University Professors as part of The Democracy Summit at CSU will shine a spotlight on these topics. 

Read about faculty concerns about the Colorado State System Chancellor search in the Rocky Mountain Collegian.

“(This) suggests that Dr. Frank is, in fact, naming a successor rather than conducting an objective search for a new chancellor to lead the CSU system,” the AAUP’s letter reads. “It is part of a broader pattern of administrative behavior that includes the presidential ‘searches’ for CSU-Fort Collins and CSU-Pueblo, both of which resulted in the appointment of people close to the current chancellor with little to no input from stakeholders in the broader university communities. The latter, it should be noted, ultimately resulted in major embarrassment to the system. The current situation cannot be attributed to ignorance of national precedents or the best practices outlined by AAUP; Dr. Frank and the BOG have been informed in the past about the problematic nature of this course of action by local AAUP chapters and, in the case of Pueblo, also by the national AAUP Department of Academic Freedom, Tenure and Governance.”

“This is the second time in half a year that I’ve been compelled to attend the Board of Governors meeting to voice my concerns about blatant disregard for the principles of shared governance and egregious disrespect shown to the faculty staff and students of CSU,” Munsky said in public comment. “Last September, it was about illegal and draconian changes in the free speech policy, and today it is about an embarrassing and shamefully inappropriate search for the next chancellor of the CSU System. There needs to be a full external search. The Colorado State System is a public institution that serves almost 50,000 students and employs over 7,500 faculty and staff. We deserve a chancellor who has undergone a rigorous selection process that is based on nationally recognized best practices.”

Colorado Public Radio covers the concerns that AAUP faculty have about the “closed door” process to select the next Chancellor of the Colorado State system.

“This begs the question of who, exactly, is making the selection,” wrote Mary Van Buren, president of the Fort Collins chapter of the American Association of University Professors in a strongly worded letter to the board. “All of the above suggests that Dr. Frank is, in fact, naming a successor rather than conducting an objective search.”

Read the full article here.

The Administrative Professional Council (APC) and the Multicultural Staff and Faculty Council Board (MSFC) at Colorado State University both joined the Faculty Council and the AAUP in protesting the inappropriate process by which CSU conducted the search for a new Chancellor.

The APC write (read the full letter here):

Administrative Professionals play a critical role in advancing the land-grant mission of CSU and in sustaining the daily operations, institutional knowledge, and long-term stability of our campuses. As such, APC strongly supports the principles of shared governance articulated in the Academic Faculty & Administrative Professional Manual, including transparency, accountability, meaningful participation, and respect for established
processes in institutional decision-making.

Trust in leadership processes is essential. The current Chancellor search process, as described, raises concerns about inclusivity, transparency, and alignment with best practices.

The Fort Collins APC joins Faculty Council in urging the Board of Governors to reconsider and modify the current search process to ensure it reflects the values of shared governance and incorporates meaningful input from across the CSU community. Modifying the search process will go a long way to restoring confidence and strengthening institutional trust while securing the leadership needed to guide CSU through its present
and future challenges.

We appreciate the responsibility entrusted to the Board of Governors and respectfully ask that you consider the best interests of the entire CSU System by ensuring an inclusive and transparent Chancellor search process.

The MSFC write (read the full letter here):

The Multicultural Staff and Faculty Council (MSFC) has been at Colorado State University since the 1970s. MSFC’s mission is to serve as a catalyst to meaningfully impact campus climate and culture by supporting the recruitment, retention, and development of multicultural and diverse employees. We are committed to promoting
collaboration and accountability through visible and meaningful engagement with Colorado State University and the greater community.

We, the MSFC Board, have significant concerns about the nature of the search process for our next Chancellor. Specifically, we are concerned that:

• The search for our next Chancellor is limited to applicants currently affiliated with the CSU System. An internal search limits our ability to recruit a diverse applicant pool and identify the best candidate.
• The Search Advisory Committee is composed only of the voting members of the Board of Governors or the Evaluation Committee. This decision to exclude input from the greater campus community does not support our University’s fundamental value of shared governance and conflicts with MSFC’s commitment to promoting collaboration, accountability, and integrity.
• To our knowledge, the Search Advisory Committee has not reached out to staff, faculty, or students to solicit input on the values and experience needed in the next Chancellor. It is concerning that someone could be hired to make decisions about us and for us without knowing what is important to us.
• There are possible unethical practices and conflicts of interest pertaining to the Chancellor search, in violation of the Board of Governors Bylaws and Ethics Policy.
  

We urge the Board to address the concerns outlined in this letter and in the letter sent by the Faculty Council. The current search process’s limited applicant pool, expedited timeline, and absence of multiple voices from the more than 10,000 employees and over 34,000 students (in addition to other System campuses and institutions) in the decision- making process is alarming and gives the impression that the outcome is predetermined. We request that the Board adopt a more transparent and ethical search process by conducting a national search that integrates employee participation and prioritizes community engagement.

The Fort Collins chapter of the American Association of University Professors sent the following letter to the Colorado State System Board of Governors on February 4, 2026. We are gravely concerned about the process by which the new chancellor of the Colorado State System was being selected. Download a PDF of the letter here.

---

AAUP – Colorado State University – Fort Collins

February 4, 2026

Dear Board Members,

We are writing to express our grave concern about the procedure you have implemented for selecting a new chancellor. The selection process was outlined in the December 18, 2025 statement by the Board of Governors and is problematic for the following reasons:

• The search for the highest ranking administrator in the CSU system is internal rather than being open to the most qualified candidate.

• There is no independent search committee. The December 18 memo states that “the Board of Governors Evaluation Committee will serve as the advisory committee for this search.” This begs the question of who, exactly, is making the selection. The current chancellor? That would seem to be the case given that applicants are instructed to send their materials directly to his office, not to the BOG or an independent body.

• There is no participation by faculty or other affected parties. This contravenes AAUP guidance as well as CSU’s stated commitment to shared governance.

• The search was announced immediately before the winter break and specified a deadline just six weeks later. This very short turn-around time – that occurred between Faculty Council meetings — made it difficult for the university community to respond to the way in which the search was being conducted. The accelerated timeline is particularly unreasonable given that Dr. Frank is not retiring until June of 2027.

All of the above suggests that Dr. Frank is, in fact, naming a successor rather than conducting an objective search for a new chancellor to lead the CSU system. It is part of a broader pattern of administrative behavior that includes the presidential “searches” for CSU- Fort Collins and CSU-Pueblo, both of which resulted in the appointment of people close to the current chancellor with little to no input from stakeholders in the broader university communities. The latter, it should be noted, ultimately resulted in major embarrassment to the system. The current situation cannot be attributed to ignorance of national precedents or the best practices outlined by AAUP; Dr. Frank and the BOG have been informed in the past about the problematic nature of this course of action by local AAUP chapters, and, in the case of Pueblo, also by the national AAUP Department of Academic Freedom, Tenure, and Governance.

The Colorado State System is a public institution that serves almost 50,000 students and employs over 7,500 faculty and staff. We deserve a chancellor who has undergone a rigorous selection process that is based on nationally recognized best practices.

We respectfully request that a new search be implemented so that a national pool of qualified candidates can be reviewed by a committee that includes faculty, among other stakeholders, subject, of course, to final Board approval.

Sincerely,

Mary Van Buren

President, American Association of University Professors – Fort Collins

On behalf of the Executive Committee of AAUP@CSU