Q & A: President Tony Frank’s take on U+2, sexual assault, Hughes Stadium

Colorado State University President Tony Frank sat down with the Collegian to discuss topics affecting CSU students: affordable housing, Hughes stadium, CSU open records, salary equity and sexual assault on campus.

This Q & A is an excerpt from a larger interview that took place Oct. 19 and has been edited for clarity.

Recently, there has been a lot of chatter about affordable housing and U + 2. Do you see a solution that can fit both the students and the city residents?

I think all of us have a role to play in it. We have launched a housing task force. This is the first time we have formally tried as a University to pull together all the different assets of the University that deal with housing.

(Photo by Abbie Parr)
(Photo by Abbie Parr)

I think, in general, you see a strong sense that maintaining neighborhoods close to campus matters, and I think all of us are supportive of that. At the same time, if you are a property owner who has a four-bedroom home, and you have parking for four people, or it’s next to campus and there’s not a need for all the people there to have cars, some of those folks have legitimate questions about why they are not able to utilize the house as it was designed. I don’t know where all of that will end up … I think ASCSU has made it clear that they want to get involved in this discussion. I think we all know that not just students, but everybody in the community, is struggling around the housing issue. That to me, is a signal that the next step is to get folks involved, sitting down, discussing things.

The new stadium is very well on its way. What have and you and the other Board of Governors members discussed regarding the future of Hughes Stadium?

The Board is responsible for the land on behalf of the tax payers of the entire state, so it is a multi-million dollar financial asset for the University.

We know the stadium project has been controversial. We know that if there is a way to do something with that land that the community as a whole finds beneficial, that would be beneficial for us as well. We know there are housing challenges, does that make sense for us to potentially utilize some of that land, or to exchange that land for a piece of land that might make more sense for higher-density housing.

Read the full Q and A here.

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