The University of Colorado at Boulder (CU or CU-Boulder) is the flagship university of the University of Colorado system. With its unique Tuscan sandstone architecture and its location nestled under the Flatiron rock formations of Boulder, the campus is considered to be one of the most beautiful in the United States.

CU has produced a number of astronauts, Nobel Prize laureates, and respected academics, but is also known for its outdoor activities, left of center politics, and party school reputation. [1]

In 2004, the CU football department was accused of facilitating alcohol use and sex to sell its program to recruits. The event soon became a political and media event with sensational headlines backed by leaks to the press from opportunistic PR agencies. The governor and district attorneys all made public statements about the case.

Several investigations by varying authorities began, but, no criminal charges were ever filed. The civil suit was dismissed in the spring of 2005, but not until the Athletic Director and the President of the University resigned in part due to the sensational headlines from the local newspapers. The federal court judge who dismissed the charges indicated, for example, that the sexual assault of a high school girl by football recruits in 1997 did not indicate that college students were at risk. Local women's groups decried the verdict as essentially greenlighting any form of sexual abuse on women. Backers of the university felt vindicated since they felt the charge were highly dubious.

Most of the allegations stem from a party where football recruits were invited by one of the roommates of the female students who had spent the evening drinking in their own apartment.

In the spring of 2004, CU fired Professor R. Igor Gamow of the Chemical Engineering Department for moral turpitude. Several women, including students, had come forward over many years with allegations of sexual harassment, sexual assault, and threats of retaliation by Gamow. In 2002, a former assistant of Gamow's filed a lawsuit against the University alleging sexual harassment and sexual assault. After the lawsuit was filed, CU began to take steps to fire the professor. In 2004 the CU Board of Regents unanimously upheld the recommendation to fire Gamow. The lawsuit by the former assistant is expected to be held in federal court during the summer of 2005.

In 2005, CU ethnic studies professor Ward Churchill was the center of a controversy involving an essay he penned on September 11th, 2001. The essay, "On the Justice of Roosting Chickens," drew comparisons between some of the workers in the World Trade Center and Adolf Eichmann, the man largely responsible for the logistical operations of German concentration camps. The essay was largely a condemnation of American foreign policy in the decades before September 11th, particularly with regard to Iraq.

CU is home of the Alferd Packer Grill, supposedly the only campus eatery in America named for a convicted cannibal.

Athletics

Sports teams at the school are called Buffaloes. CU participates in the NCAA's Division I (I-A for football) as a member of the Northern Division of the Big Twelve Conference. The school mascot is Ralphie the Buffalo and the school colors are Silver and Gold, but are usually represented by Black and Gold. The fight song is "Fight CU down the field."

CU has won national championships in both men's and women's cross country, skiing, and football. Conference championships have also been won in football and soccer.

In football, CU enjoys major rivalries with the Nebraska Cornhuskers. Since the 1990's, Colorado and Nebraska have finished their respective seasons in a nationally televised confrontation on the Friday following Thanksgiving.

Notable CU students, alumni, and staff

• Loren Acton, NASA astronaut
• Patrick Baudry, CNES astronaut
• James Barton, Co-founder of TiVo
• Bob Beauprez, U.S. Representative
• Petr Beckmann, physicist, engineer
• Chauncey Billups, member of the Detroit Pistons of the NBA
• Stan Brakhage, filmmaker
• Vance D. Brand, NASA astronaut
• Scott Carpenter, NASA astronaut
• Kalpana Chawla, Columbia astronaut
• Lynne Cheney, wife of U.S. Vice President Dick Cheney
• Ward Churchill, CU Professor
• Sarvadaman Chowla, mathematician
• Judy Collins, American folk musician
• Eric Allin Cornell, physicist, Nobel laureate
• Takao Doi, NASA astronaut
• Ed Dorn, poet
• Samuel T. Durrance, NASA astronaut
• Larry Esposito, discoverer of Saturn's fourth ring
• Jim Gray, ESPN and ABC Sports
• George Gamow, physicist and cosmologist
• Edward Greenberg . CU Professor
• Dave Grusin, composer
• John Herrington, NASA astronaut
• Richard Hieb, NASA astronaut
• Katie Hnida, football place kicker (now attends University of New Mexico)
• Hale Irwin, golf star
• Marsha Ivins, NASA astronaut
• Deborah S. Jin, physicist
• Alan Kay, computer scientist, Turing Award winner
• William Lee Knous, state Supreme Court judge and state legislator
• Herbert Kroemer, physicist
• Larry Linville, actor
• John M. Lounge, NASA astronaut
• Christopher Meloni, actor
• Richard McCray , astrophysicist
• Glenn Miller, band leader
• James Naismith, inventor of basketball
• George Nelson, NASA astronaut
• Ellison Onizuka, Challenger astronaut
• Trey Parker, co-creator of South Park
• William Pierce, physicist, white separatist
• Robert Redford, did not graduate actor
• Rick Reilly, Sports Illustrated
• Stuart Roosa, NASA astronaut
• Roy Romer, former Colorado governor
• Ronald M. Sega, NASA astronaut
• Paul Soldner, artist
• Matt Stone, co-creator of South Park
• Jack Swigert, Apollo 13 astronaut
• Dalton Trumbo, writer
• Debra Thomas , Olympic figure skater
• Joan Van Ark, actress
• James Voss, NASA astronaut
• Byron White, associate justice of the Supreme Court
• Leslie Whittington, Georgetown professor and Sep. 11 victim
• Carl Wieman, physicist, Nobel laureate
• Michael Westbrook , football player
• Steve Wozniak, personal computer pioneer
• Thomas R. Cech, chemist, Nobel laureate

Demographics

• 29,000 Students
• 24,000 Undergraduates
• 4,400 Graduate Students
• 47% Women
• 53% Men
• 66% In State (Colorado Resident)
• 34% Non Resident
• 14% Minorities
• 4% International Students

See also

• Laboratory for Atmospheric and Space Physics (LASP)

External links

• The University of Colorado's web site
• Official Colorado athletics site