Benson, Oil and Big Bucks

Why Benson? It’s easy to read between the lines of the University of Colorado’s selection committee desire to have oilman Bruce Benson be their next president.

Benson is a Republican, ex-chair of the Colorado Republican Party, and a billion dollar fund-raiser. The CU Regents are betting that Benson-as-Fundraiser will bring in Big Bucks to the statewide system for research into nuclear power, carbon sequestration and biofuels. It’s a big gamble on the part of the regents that could fail. Here’s why.

Over the past few months, the Bush Administration has earmarked billions of dollars to fund “clean fuels” research for the oil, gas and nuclear industry. It’s their version of a Climate Solution program. However, a change in the White House in 2009, and a decision to follow the German Energy Model instead of fossil fuel futures could turn the CU Regents decision on its head.

A new administration could end up pouring billions of dollars into solar solutions. Government money for a so-called “clean” oil, gas, and nuclear technologies could be cut off leaving CU’s gamble for big bucks un-funded.

 
In the CU statewide system, however, the problem of Benson’s candidacy lies deeper than the search for money. It lies deeper than a division between candidates representing Democratic or Republican ideals.

More importantly, it’s is in making a choice between the future role of a state funded university in providing an academic environment for learning, or in its desire to become a perpetual fund-raising machine for attracting big research grants, like MIT.

Would the choice of Benson - who is rooted in oil and big business, not academia - mean that the search for money would drive the learning process? Shouldn’t the CU system - in fact, all state universities - be grounded in their founding ideals …offering students a world of ideas and passion-driven faculty in an active learning environment? Let’s bring on the other eight candidates and have a real choice for our common future.