DEBBIE MARSH » FEATURES EDITOR » dmarsh8@mscd.eduB1 » THE METROPOLITAN » SEPTEMBER 25, 2008

metrospective

ROLL OUT THE BARRELSColorado’s only whiskey distiller is among the nation’s smallest and best.

Photos by ANDREW BISSET/abisset1@mscd.edu

Above, every label on every bottle of Colorado-made Stranahan’s whiskey is personalized before being shipped as far away as France and Sweden. The premium brand won a gold medal at the American Distilling Institute’s blind tasting last year.

Left, distiller Ben Galde tends casks of whiskey kept in a warm, humid room to encourage move-ment of the liquid through the wood.

As winter approaches, the urge for a refreshing cold beer at the end of a long day starts to fade. Crisp fall evenings are the perfect times for a little nip of whiskey. A neat tumbler can warm your belly and reset your attitude after an exhausting day.

I can only say, to those who don’t like whiskey or its brothers Scotch and bourbon, maybe you just haven’t been drinking a good one.

Good whiskey should be com-plex and smooth with layers of fl a-vor. It should be smoky, earthy and caramely. Not too sweet or acrid.

Stranahan’s, Colorado’s fi rst and only whiskey distillery, has been producing for fi ve years. Jacob Norris is the head distiller and pro-duction manager.

This new guy on the shelf is a one-of-a-kind variety of spirit. The distillation is 100 percent kiln-roasted barley. Other American whiskeys are made with a blend of corn, rye or low-quality grain alco-hol fi ller.

The bottles of amber bliss sell for around $55 a bottle, which seems like a lot until you taste it. Fortunately for those who are over 21, the company offers tours and free samples at its distillery at 2405 Blake St. downtown.

Once upon a time, they con-tracted their next-door neighbor Flying Dog Brewery to process their four-barley fermented wash. Since the brewery moved to the East Coast, the distillery has contracted with Oskar Blues brewery in Lyons.

Stranahan’s was the fi rst distill-ery to use a wash. The four-barley mix is crushed and boiled. Then the

solids are removed from the sugary liquid, and only the liquid is used. The sugar water is trucked down to the distillery and goes into a closed, sanitary distillation system where it is fermented. This preserves the integrity of the product by protect-ing the distillation from yeasts in the air.

The little distillery produces 450 gallons of 100-proof liquor from 3,000 gallons of wash. Stra-nahan’s is currently aging 700 barrels of whiskey downtown. Jim Beam, a popular Kentucky bour-bon whiskey, produces 1,000 bar-rels of its product every day.

Stranahan’s is aged in 100 percent new American white oak barrels. The barrels are fi red to the heaviest char available. The char picks up vanillin that caramelizes with other oak sugars. These give the whiskey 100 percent of its color

and 60 -70 percent of its fl avor. Stranahan’s only uses the bar-

rels once, like a teabag. The used barrels are sold to microbreweries and used to make whiskey barrel aged ales. Of course, Colorado mi-crobreweries get fi rst pick.

The aging room is hot and hu-mid to keep the whiskey thin and the barrel pores large and open. This ensures that the whiskey will continue to interact with the bar-rels year-round, unlike old-fash-ioned whiskys from Scotland or whiskeys from Ireland. There, the coolness of the barrels during win-ter months lengthens the aging process signifi cantly.

A standard quality bottle of European or Kentucky whiskey ages for at least nine or 10 years; Stranahan’s can bottle its product at two and a half.

“We have nine patents pend-

ing,” Norris said.Colorado won’t leave you

hanging if it’s a top-notch, locally produced alcoholic beverage you’re searching for. Stranahan’s raised the bar for hard liquor producers in the area when it won Best of Show and a gold medal in the whiskey division at the American Distilling Institute’s blind tasting last year.

Norris doesn’t underestimate the attraction to big whiskey pro-ducers.

“If you want something that tastes exactly the same every time you open a bottle, buy Jameson. Our goal in doing this is to put the fi ngerprints back on the bottle. It’s like your grandma’s apple pie. It may not always taste the same, but it’s really good. That’s what we want.”

If you want to visit:

The distillery calls 2405 Blake Street home. Free tours led by knowledgeable sta� are available, so there’s no excuse not to go. Sign up at Stranahan.com under “tours.”A shot of their trademark liquid is included.

By AMANDA HALLahall35@mscd.edu

February 19, 2009 « b5THe MeTrOPOLITaNb4 » February 19, 2009

By Dominic Grazianodgrazia1@mscd.edu

Denver Restaurant Week started five years ago, after the city was ranked in the

top 25 in the country.“In 2004, there had been a national

survey of opinions of the top 25 cities in America,” said Visit Denver spokesper-son Richard Grant. “But the bad news was we were ranked 23 in food.”

Even Denverites were unimpressed with the city’s food — “our own residents ranked us number 24,” Grant said.

That’s when Visit Denver took it upon themselves to change Denver’s reputation.

“We decided we needed to do some-thing to spruce up the city’s representa-tion for fine dining,” Grant said. “There were more than a dozen cities doing the same thing at the time.”

Five years ago, 84 restaurants start-ed participating in Denver Restaurant Week. This year, more than 200 of the city’s chow-downs will contribute the melting pot of cooking between Feb. 21 and March 6.

And true to the Mile High City, ev-ery restaurant is offering their fare at $52.80 for a dinner for two.

Grant said that some of the nor-mally lower-priced eateries will be giv-ing patrons more for their money. Some will feed four for that price, and others will offer giveaways like tickets to com-edy shows or wine to go along with the meal.

“It’s a great time for people to grab some friends together [because] the bill is so easy to split,” Grant said.

Grant added that if a patron feels like hitting the town on their own, each restaurant offers half the food for half the price.

“A three- or four-course meal for $26.40 isn’t too bad,” he said.

And at that price, Grant expects quite a turnout.

“People are feeling pretty beat up from the economy. For a lot of people this is something they look forward to all year,” Grant said. Last year, participat-ing restaurants saw more than 160,000 diners, Grant said, and the numbers are looking even better for this year.

“The website has already seen 40 per-cent more hits than last year,” he said.

Grant added that he is excited about restaurants that are extending the pro-motion through March 6.

“Over the years, some restaurants have done it unofficially, but this year we are endorsing it fully,” he said.

Since most of the popular restau-rants will book up quickly on the week-end, it’s better to make reservations early. Grant said 40 to 50 restaurants host their reservations online, but by the time the event is marketed, weekends at most restaurants are booked solid.

He added that some of the slower

nights like Monday and Tuesday still have openings.

The occasion doesn’t just bring the restaurants together, either.

“It’s a great deal for students; it’s a chance to splurge and go to a place you hear about or read about all the time. It’s a great chance to celebrate and grab a whole bunch of friends together,” Grant said.

Although it would be impossible to actually visit every participating restau-rant, Denver Restaurant Week allows for the opportunity to explore restaurants that you may not have known about.

“The average person visits 42 menus on our website; there’s a lot of trying to figure out what everyone’s serving,” Grant said. “You may only go to a cou-ple of restaurants, but you look into a bunch of them.”

For more information on restaurants or to make reservations visit http://www.denver.org/denverrestaurant.

An ahi tuna steak with Provencal vegetables, rosemary potatoes and lemon-artichoke relish is one of the main courses offered at Prima. The restaurant, located at 1100 14 St., specializes in elegant Italian and Northern Spanish dishes. Management at Prima has de-cided to add two extra weeks to their $52.80 special, due to being booked for several weeks in advance. They are almost fully booked except for a few 10 p.m. reservations. Photo by Jamie Moore • moorjami@mscd.edu

Sous Chef Celeste Varra plates sautéed asparagus that will be served with Salmon Encrute, and fin-ished with hollandaise sauce and lemon rice pilaf. Varra works at Denver ChopHouse & Brewery, located at 1735 19 St. Rounding out the menu for Denver Restaurant Week is a tomato fennel bisque as an appetizer, and an espresso walnut tart for dessert. Photo by Andrew Bisset • abisset1@mscd.edu

Top: At The 9th Door, Chef Kevin Marquet has crafted a variety of dishes for the four-course meal, including a plate of cheeses that, with their sweet accompaniments, work equally well as an appetizer or a dessert. The restaurant’s dark interior and tables made from 275-year-old Spanish doors give off an air of understated elegance, and The 9th Door’s menu for Denver Restaurant Week is no exception. The 9th Door, located at 1808 Blake St., does not do fusion cuisine, instead opting to focus on Spanish dishes to the extent that they import many of their ingredients directly from Spain. Photo by Andrew Bisset • abisset1@mscd.edu

Left: Chef Bertrand Gesbert adds the finishing touch to a veal scalopini, which is sautéed in sweet butter. Gesbert hails from Paris, a world culinary capital, which is appropriate, consider-ing his restaurant, Le Central, has been serving French cuisine to the people of Denver for 27 years. Le Central is located at 112 E. 8th Ave. Le Central aims to bring a little slice of France to their corner of North Lincoln, and with these dishes, France just doesn’t seem so far away. Photo by Andrew Bisset • abisset1@mscd.edu

City’s finest plate their best

audiofi lesB6 » THE METROPOLITAN » SEPTEMBER 4, 2008JEREMY JOHNSON » MUSIC EDITOR » jjohn308@mscd.edu

» HE’S ALL HANDS: MAZZUCCO’S THE ONE-MAN BAND KNOWN AS THE LIMBS »B6

From left: Zack de la Rocha and Tom Morello, of political powerhouse band Rage Against the Machine, deliver their protests vocally to a crowd of more than 20,000 Aug. 27, at the Denver Coliseum. Center: Former Mo-tor City Five frontman Wayne Kramer joins RATM for a romping version of “Kick Out the Jams,” written by MC5 in 1968, around the same time they were involved in a concert-turned-riot in the infamous ’68 Democratic National Convention in Chicago. “MC5 was never really a very successful band — they never sold a lot of records,” Channel 93.3 KTCL’s DJ Nerf said. “But they were an important band. Their message in ’68 is every bit as true today.”

Rage, Flobots � ght the war, rock the norm

Right: Tom Morello of RATM plays on as the crowd of 20,000 at the Denver Coliseum erupts into mosh pits and musically-inspired dance madness. Rage, along with The Flobots, The Coup and State Radio, performed at the free show in support of Iraq Veterans Against the War, a protest group, consisting of mostly soldiers, demanding the withdrawal of soldiers from Iraq. The show remained peaceful, for the most part, as did the ensuing march from the Coliseum to the Pepsi Center. “I believe bands are sympathetic to our cause and want the same thing we want,” said former Marine Corps Lance Cpl. Lars Ekstrom. “But as veterans, I think we have more credibility because we’ve been there.”

From left: Violinist Mackenzie Roberts prepares to sound o� during the Flobots’ performance at the Tent State Music Festival for Iraq Veterans Against the War. Jonny 5 (aka Jamie Laurie), Brer Rabbit (aka Stephen Brackett) and Jesse Walker play a song from their recent album Fight With Tools. “ Brer Rabbit ponti� cates political to the Denver Coliseum masses. Not only are we opening for Rage Against the Machine, we’re doing it during the DNC in our home city,” MC Brer Rabbit said. “That’s ridiculous. Honored is too small a word.”

Photos by Andrew Bisset, abisset1@mscd.edu Story by Jeremy Johnson, jjohn308@mscd.eduThanks to the presence of political supergroup Rage Against

the Machine, as well as local political pontiffs, the Flobots, a crowd of more than 20,000 strong showed up Aug. 27, for Tent State’s Music Festival at the Denver Coliseum.

The festival was organized in coordination with Iraq Veterans Against the War, a political group demanding an end to the war, the return of military personnel to their homes in the states, and giving reparations to both U.S. soldiers and Iraqi citizens affected by the war.

“We have an advantage in getting the word out just based on the mass amount of people here. In our own, little local chap-ters where we come from throughout the U.S., we can only do so much there, but something so nationally recognized as this defi -nitely helps get the word out better than walking down the street handing out fl iers,” said Kenneth Sexton from Santa Cruz, Calif., who served briefl y in Germany before heading to Iraq for more than a year of service.

Sexton is one of the many soldiers undergoing “stop-loss,” where a soldier that has already returned home is sent back for another tour. Sexton said that he earned a disability rating during his fi rst tour and that “they shouldn’t be sending disabled veterans over there.” Sexton said that he would appeal to his congressman, but was clear he would not go, even at the risk of jail. At that point, Sexton momentarily trails off and his eyes become distant. “It’s hard to explain what goes on with war, and it’s unfortunate that it continues,” he said with fi nality, shaking his head.

Sexton’s sentiments were echoed by the Tent State organiza-tion, concert planners, concert-goers and the musicians them-selves, as well as a variety of fi rst-time protesters.

“There are a lot of young kids out there who have never seen anything like this, have never been involved with something like this,” said Ryan Walker, a self-described ally of the Tent State organization and a scout for the IVAW’s ensuing protest march. “This event is the soldiers’ way of saying, ‘this is what you have

an opportunity to be a part of, these are our goals, and this is how you can participate.’”

But the fi ne line between political party people and run-of-the-mill party people was blurred by youthful exuberance and the sheer excitement of the show’s lineup. One girl, when asked what she thought of the political ramifi cations of the show, replied, “I’m not really political.” Others, seemingly, latched onto the political cause in a more “monkey see, monkey do” kind of manner.

“While us getting behind (the cause) might be politically po-larizing, Rage is also just a great band to see play” said DJ Nerf (aka Jeb Freedman) of radio station Channel 93.3 KTCL. “So ei-ther way it’s a win, whether you’re just in it for the music or if you’re into it for both the music and the cause.”

The real crusaders for the IVAW’s cause were easy to iden-tify, huddled busy in a corner backstage, meticulously pre-paring for the march by going over safety matters and con-

Tent State Music Festival Continued on B6»

half notes upcoming shows » thursday 9.4 STS9 w/ Ghostland Observatory and Bassnectarfriday 9.5STS9 w/ Talib Kweli and Flying Lotus6 p.m.@ Red Rocks Amphitheatre$36, All AgesTrombone Shorty9 p.m.@ The Bluebird Theater$16, 16+saturday 9.6Motörhead w/ Misfits, Airbourne and Valient Thor@ The Fillmore Auditorium$26, 16+sunday 9.7Ice Cube@ The Ogden Theater$39.50, 16+monday 9.8 andtuesday 9.9Foo Fighters w/ Supergrass7:30 p.m.@ Red Rocks Amphitheatre$45, All Agestuesday 9.9Hot Water Music7:30 p.m.@ The Gothic Theatre$16.50, 16+

audiofiles’ upcoming show of the week » the limbs

erns as well as objectives and agen-das, while through a cement corridor 100 feet away, the much acclaimed lineup played on.

“We must make sure this is a non-violent march,” organizers urged. “If you’ve had any drugs or alcohol, we’d like to ask you to refrain from joining us on this march.”

Massachusetts band State Radio and Oakland, Calif. natives The Coup warmed the stage, beginning at 11 a.m., with double-fiery sets of po-litically-charged punk and hip-hop, respectively. But the real treat for hundreds of fans was the return of newly-recognized political hip-hop trendsetters, Denver’s very own Flo-bots. Since the release of their album Fight With Tools earlier this year, the Flobots have gained national atten-tion in venues and on air, and came back to Denver for the festival after touring all over North America and Europe.

Indeed, the Flobots displayed an impressive conviction for the cause, confidently delivering their relevant missive to an eclectic crowd (masked by American flag bandanas over fac-es) that was eager and chewing ner-vously on fingers, immersed in MC Brer Rabbit’s microphone report.

“The message is out there, and things are changing,” said Brer Rab-bit (aka Stephen Brackett) to the cap-tive audience. “People, we’ve noticed, are hungry for this message. They’re actually seeking out and looking for it,” Brer Rabbit said in an interview prior to the show. “Maybe it’s fortu-nate timing for us, or divine provi-dence, but however you phrase it, it’s no coincidence that folks are want-ing change.”

The day’s excitement culminated when, following brief speeches by or-ganizers, Dead Kennedy’s Jello Biafra and Born on the Fourth of July writer, Ron Kovic, Rage took to the stage.

If inciting rage is a skill, then Rage frontman Zack de la Rocha is a master, orchestrating a musical coup, all the while grinning with mischief and madness.

“Rage’s music has been on a eight-year hiatus, but it’s as valid now as it was then,” Nerf said. “May-be even more so.”

“Having a band like Rage is huge, obviously, and it brings a lot of people in from a lot of different backgrounds, people with a lot of different social ideologies,” Walker said. “It brings a coalition of people together to work under a common banner.”

And in this way, the festival served as the jumping-off point for a mostly peaceful and prosperous march, end-ing at dusk at downtown’s Pepsi Cen-ter.

“Music is the glue for most of rit-uals, for most of our celebrations and get-togethers throughout time,” Brer Rabbit said. “Music used to be some-thing that grounded our communi-ties, and I think people are wanting to take that back.”

Clockwise from top left: “Yeah, boy!” Public Enemy’s Flavor Flav gives an Obama shout-out Aug. 27 at the Boulder Theater. Flav and Chuck D bring the noise in Boulder with their classic hardcore and political rap. Chuck D lays down the law with intimidation. Oliver Jacobson of Boulder alternative hip-hop band The Night Kitchen and Metro State grad and reggae-rap guru DJ Cavem (aka Moetivation or Ietef Hotep Vita) warm up the stage during more than three hours of local music prior to Public Enemy.

Boulder’s DNC breakdown

The Limbs are one part Frank Zappa, one part Leonard Cohen and one part Modest Mouse, only with ten times less manpower. The band’s unique moniker refers to frontman John Mazzuc-co’s bandmembers: “Right foot, left foot, right arm, left arm, throat and heart. Oh, and I use my guitar neck as a drumstick on the hi-hat.”

Wild-eyed and writhing (limbs flailing, if you can imagine), Mazzucco takes the whole side-show aspect of his performance to a whole new level. The Limbs are no novelty act, mind you, but rather a brilliantly dark display of hollow-sounding and haunting compositions backed by the busy man’s morose lyricism .

The Limbs’ new album Boo The Villain features a rather crazed, desperate and downright creepy picture of Mazzucco that’s most fitting of his music’s sinister nature. While Mazzucco has an obvious sense of humor, seen not only in his quirky, aneuristic deliver-ance but in lyrics that list Robin Williams among the world’s dei-ties, his real niche is in painful contemplation, with songs such as “It’s Not Very Kind,” “The Story of You and Me” and “The Un-dertow,” in which the defeated voice of The Limbs strains “If we could make a million bucks, bud, we’d lose it in the undertow.”

Def Leppard drummer Rick Allen’s got nothing on this guy, just one less arm. Using both his hands and feet to create erratic percussion time changes and haunting, heavy guitar, John Mazzucco is a marvel as one-man band, The Limbs.

friday 9.5The Limbs@ 9 p.m. @ The Falcon$6, 16+

Photos by Andrew Bisset, abisset1@mscd.edu

Photo by JEREMY PAPASSO/jpapasso@mscd.edu

RATM» Flobots, Rage rally troops

THE METROPOLITAN « SEPTEMBER 4, 2008 « AUDIOFILES « B7

By Enrico Dominguezedoming2@mscd.edu

The women’s tennis team started a little rough against University of Wyoming March 1 at the Air Force Academy, but ended on a high note against Winona State March 2 at Au-raria Courts.

Junior Mandy Bowling hurt her knee and was unable to play in both matches, which caused the team to forfeit No. 3 doubles and No. 6 singles.

“I hope to be back soon,” Bowl-ing said. “Not quite sure what the injury is yet.”

Junior April Hirad says it’s dif-ficult beginning the match down by two points when it hasn’t even started.

“It’s a lot harder when the match starts 2-0 because Mandy is out,” Hi-rad said.

With Bowling being out, it forced

their whole roster to shift below se-nior Mitra Hirad. Senior Miriam Evangelista played No. 1 doubles with Mitra Hirad, and April Hirad played with sophomore Alexis Alva-rez at No. 2 doubles after only a few days of practicing together.

“Doubles is a little foreign ter-ritory right now,” head coach Beck Meares said. “If we can go into singles 2-1 or 3-0 that would really help.”

Sophomore Kathleen Thompson lost 6-0, 6-1 but was still looking for-ward to the match against Winona State.

“Probably one of my best match-es, although the score may not have reflected it,” Thompson said. “I felt like we had an intense week of prac-tice just like the week we played Air Force.”

Although they didn’t win a sin-gle match, they all seemed to know something the scoreboard didn’t.

“We weren’t expecting to win against Wyoming,” Meares said. “I

scheduled the D-I teams at the be-ginning of the season for a reason. Our season starts tomorrow against Winona.”

Once again, the Roadrunners

started off the match against Winona State down 2-0. Doubles began with new partners Evangelist and Mitra Hirad tag-teaming for a win against Winona’s No. 1 doubles 9-7. The No.

2 team, which consisted of Hirad and Alvaraz, lost their match 7-4.

In the far court, Thompson was starting what the team was promised to see more of as the actual season started. Before anyone knew it, she was coming off the court with a win, carrying herself with an anticipated sense of satisfaction.

Not only was Thompson winning her matches, the rest of the team were winning too. While Evange-lista won her match 6-3, 6-3, Hirad started playing like she was shot out of a cannon around her fifth game and pulled the match out 6-3, 6-3. The whole team watched as Alvarez finished off her match winning 6-2, 7-5.

“We started down 2-0 against a team ranked three spots above us,” Hirad said. “This feels so good.”

The win puts the women’s team at an even .500 overall. The men will play against Dallas Baptist March 10 at Auraria Courts.

A13 » SPORTS » MARCH 5, 2009 » THE METROPOLITAN • The first black to win the U.S. Open was Arthur Ashe

Roadrunners grab first victory

By Robert Dranrdran@mscd.edu

Metro baseball managed to claim a victory and avoided a series sweep at the hands of Mesa State Feb. 27 through March 1 in Grand Junction.

Metro scored four runs with two outs in the top of the ninth inning of the final game to win 10-9.

Designated hitter Brett Bowman saved Metro from a quick one-two-three inning by singling off Mesa pitcher Aaron Guinn. Bowman ad-vanced to second during the next at-bat when catcher Tyree Abshire singled. After left fielder Marcel Dominguez walked to load the bases, second baseman Tommy Frikken hit a ground ball that turned into a two-run error for Metro. With the teams separated by one run center fielder Chris Redding was walked to load the bases. Shortstop Matt McConnell hit the tying and go-ahead runs with a double off the wall in center field.

Though embarrassed at his teammate’s claim that he was the man who started the rally, Bowman gave a sober assessment of his strat-egy at the plate.

“[I was] just trying to be aggres-sive,” Bowman said. “The guys be-hind me are more important to me. The difference for us in this game is that we kept them close. They’re a bunch of good hitters.”

Slugging first baseman Jordan

Stouffer was quick to compliment his team’s performance after being the first of two outs before the rally.

“I just have to say I am impressed with our team’s mental toughness,” Stouffer said.

Mesa only managed a single in the bottom of the ninth and Metro held their lead to win the game. The win stopped Mesa’s chance at a sweep and ended Metro’s three-game los-ing streak after winning their previ-ous five. No. 4-ranked Mesa defeated Metro in the other three games in the series 18-8, 14-4, and 12-11.

Though Metro was excited to grab an emotional victory, head coach Jerry Schemmel said he felt the team should have done better.

“We could have won [the third game] and split the series,” Schem-mel said. “In this game, Mesa had four errors and their shortstop was suspended. We played hard and had a no-quit attitude. When that hap-pens you’ll win the game.”

The normally polite and profes-sional Schemmel was ejected from the third game.

As for the rest of the series, the No. 4-ranked Mavericks out-scored the Roadrunners 41-23 in the three games Mesa won. Metro did come close in the third game with a high scoring 12-11 loss, but Mesa won the game with a walk off home run. Stouffer had a good third game for Metro by going 3-for-3 with two home runs. He added another in the final game to increase his conference-leading total to eight home runs on the season.

Metro will spend March 6 and 7 playing a pair of doubleheaders against Colorado Christian Univer-sity in Lakewood.

“They’ve got a good team this year,” Schemmel said of CCU. “We’re confident but were not overconfident.”

“(I was) just trying to be aggressive. The guys

behind me are more important to me.”

Metro designated hitterBrent Bowman

Baseball loses opening series

Metro outfielder Chris Redding charges toward third base Feb. 22 against the College of Santa Fe at All-Star Park in Lakewood. File photo by Andrew Bisset • abisset1@mscd.edu

Mandy Bowling, left, and senior Mitra Hirad set up to receive a serve Feb. 22 against Colorado College. Bowling and Hirad played a tough game in doubles, but eventually fell to their opponents. File photo by Daniel Clements • dcleme12@mscd.edu

Metro 1 - MesA stAte 3

Metro 0 - wyoMing 7, Metro 5 - winonA stAte 4

Runners barely avoid sweep in RMAC opener

BASEBALL SchEdULE

March 6-7 @ Colorado Christian

March 13-15 vs. New Mexico Highlands

March 20-22 @ School of Mines

March 27-29 vs. Regis

April 1 vs. Colorado State (Club)

April 3-5 @ Colorado State- Pueblo

April 9-11 vs. Nebraska- Kearney

April 17-19 vs. Mesa State

April 24-25 vs. Colorado Christian

May 1-3 @ New Mexico Highlands

May 6-9 RMAC Tournament TBA

May 13 NCAA Regionals TBA

By Tara Moberlytmoberly@mscd.edu

Metro President Stephen Jordan outlined the budget crisis facing the college at a packed town hall meet-ing Feb. 16 at the King Center Con-cert Hall, highlighting the low level of state funding the college receives compared to other colleges in the state.

“I think at some point, people need to say enough is enough. Why is it fair that Colorado residents at one institution get funded at this level and at another institution get funded at this level. And that’s, I think, the level of awareness we’re trying to create with policy makers today that the cumulative effect of these decisions at this point has cre-ated an inequity that in my view rises to a point where policy makers need to start accepting responsibility for it,” Jordan said, highlighting the low level of state funds Metro receives in comparison to other Colorado col-leges and prompting applause from the crowd.

Metro has more resident under-graduate students than any other college in the state, with 3,000 more than the second place school, Colo-rado State University in Fort Collins, and is home to more recipients of the Pell Grant than any other school, a fact Jordan highlighted as evidence the State Legislature needs to recon-sider the manner in which they fund Metro.

Compared with four similar schools across the state — CSU-Pueb-lo, Fort Lewis College, Adams State and Mesa State — Metro receives less funding from the state. “They have $31 million more with 5,000 less students,” Jordan said.

“That is the nature of our prob-lem and that is what we are out talk-ing to the governor about and the Commission on Higher Education about. Quite frankly, I have said to the governor and the commission that if we were a public school, we would have a great legal case for equal pro-tection of our students because we have the most underrepresented, the most low-income students, and yet, they are clearly receiving sig-nificantly less support than all other students at regional comprehensive institutions.”

Jordan outlined the funding pic-

ture through a series of slides — a presentation he also shared with the Colorado Commission on Higher Education recently. “Their jaws dropped,” Jordan said of the commis-sion’s response to the presentation. “If nothing else, we’ve scored debate points.”

Gov. Bill Ritter was also pre-sented the same data, and while he acknowledged that the numbers on funding are correct, he made no promises that more will be done to bring increased funds to Metro.

While the CU and CSU legislators are highly visible at the capitol, the Metro legislators are not and have never stood up for higher education in the community, Jordan said.

“One of the difficulties we have is so many people in the governor’s ad-ministration — I’m trying not to be too negative — but so many of them are basically CU people. That’s tough to overcome,” he said.

This prompted Jordan to call faculty and staff to talk to the legis-lators from their home districts and make the case for increased funding at Metro.

But Jordan doesn’t plan to stop there — he’s taking his call to action to the media and will be presenting the data to the editorial board of the Denver Post, aiming to spread the word about the inequity of fund dis-persion at colleges in the state.

These efforts, while they will not help offset the current round of bud-get cuts, could put the college in a position to offset other effects of the decrease in funds.

Jordan outlined the $7 million the college has saved through cost-containing measures that were first instituted in September — $2.9 mil-lion will be given back to the state and the remaining $4 million will be rolled into next year’s budget to help bridge an anticipated $5 million in reductions.

Each of the administrative de-partments set target amounts of what they could save while still serv-ing students — targets that were met, and in some cases exceeded, giving the college some breathing room.

The school has also developed a three-tier approach to the cuts that loom from next year’s budget, which will be presented to the Metro Board of Trustees for approval at its April 2 meeting.

“All this does is gets us back to a new general fund base. So this ef-fort that we’re going through to get ready to present this material to the April meeting of the board is to cre-ate the general fund base from which we will then look at how much more are we going to raise tuition and how will we use the new revenue that we gain from tuition to invest in order to invest in the things we intend to do for the college,” Jordan said.

Metro students will likely see a hike in tuition rates for the next few years, but Jordan has a plan to try to ease the pain of these increases.

In addition to asking the com-mission on higher education to com-mit fair and equal funding, he is also supporting a move that would give the governing boards of colleges

more flexibility in determining tu-ition rates.

“We’re not looking to have carte blanche authority over tuition with this proposal,” he said of a bill to be introduced to the Legislature next month that aims to build a five-year proposal of tuition increases that will be built into the school’s perfor-mance contracts.

“At least this would be a way for our students and families to plan over their students’ career what tu-ition would look like,” he said.

Currently, tuition increases are not finalized until June, after stu-dents have left for the summer, leav-ing them to come back a few months later to higher bills.

Another concern Jordan high-lighted that stems from the fluctuat-

ing budgets is the possibility of cap-ping, or limiting, enrollment if the college does not receive additional funds. Metro is an open-enrollment school, meaning anyone 20 years or older who has graduated from high school or has a GED must be admit-ted.

While administrators are still for-mulating plans for possibly capping enrollment and further budget cuts that may arise once the budget is fi-nalized, Jordan is sure that Metro will emerge better than before. “There is no question that we’re going to be in for a tough couple of years. Hav-ing said that, I want to assure you that I’m absolutely confident that we will come out of this stronger, better academically and more committed to our mission. We will be better.”

A6 • METRO • FEBRUARY 19, 2009 » THE METROPOLITAN • THIS JUST IN: Nutmeg is poisonous if injected intravenously.

Jordan’s Fight

Metro President Stephen Jordan addresses a crowd concerning the current budget situation at the King Centre’s concert hall Feb. 16 Jordan fielded questions from attendees in a town hall format. Photo by Andrew Bisset • abisset1@mscd.edu

‘We’re going to be in for a tough couple of years’