CU News
News from the University of Colorado in Boulder.
Only 2 % of students in CU dorms eligible for concealed weapons permit
Aug 16th
CU-Boulder announces conditions
for weapons in university housing
for weapons in university housing
The University of Colorado Boulder today announced it is amending housing contracts to ask students who live in undergraduate residence halls and hold a Colorado concealed carry permit, or CCP, to forgo bringing a handgun to campus. The campus also will accommodate those who hold a CCP in a graduate student housing complex off the main campus, provided the permit holders store their weapon in a safe within their dwelling when they are not carrying it.
The university also is asking residence advisers and faculty who live in university housing to sign the same housing agreement as a condition of their residence in these facilities.
The actions follow a ruling by the Colorado Supreme Court on March 5, which allows individuals with state-issued concealed carry permits to carry handguns on university or college properties. The University of Colorado Board of Regents last spring delegated the authority to the chancellors of CU-Boulder and CU-Colorado Springs to create a process to implement the Colorado Supreme Court ruling in the campus residence environment.
“I believe we have taken reasonable steps to adhere to the ruling of the Colorado Supreme Court, while balancing that with the priority of providing a safe environment for our students, faculty and staff,” said CU-Boulder Chancellor Philip P. DiStefano.
The approach would only affect, potentially, a very small number of individuals. An analysis by the University of Colorado shows that 0.6 percent of the faculty, staff and students on campus possess a CCP. A full 96 percent of CU-Boulder undergraduate students living in the residence halls are under the age of 21, and are thus ineligible to have a CCP. Of the 4 percent of eligible students, about half living on campus are CU Resident Advisers, or “RAs,” who as CU employees would not be permitted to live in undergraduate halls and possess a CCP.
Residence hall students who have a concealed carry permit or who obtain a concealed carry permit under Colorado law during the housing contract period may seek to be relocated to a University Apartment (if space is available) or be released from the residence hall contract without financial penalty.
Among the requirements for Colorado concealed carry permits are that the holder must be at least 21 years of age, complete an FBI background check, and have either previous military or police experience or proof of completion of a firearms training course.
Residence hall students may still store weapons at the University of Colorado Police Department on campus, which is open and available for drop off and pick up of weapons, 24 hours a day, seven days a week.
CU-Boulder will continue to follow the CU Board of Regents policy that prevents the open display of weapons including guns, explosives and knives on campus. Only law enforcement officials who display their badges are allowed to openly display weapons while on campus.
Under concealed carry, anyone with a permit may carry a concealed handgun on campus generally and into CU buildings, with the exception of Folsom Field and any other ticketed public performance venue. The purchase of a ticket to a CU public performance constitutes an agreement with the university to not carry a concealed weapon, even as a CCP holder, into the venue.
Students begin moving into CU-Boulder residence halls on Tuesday, Aug. 21, and classes begin for the semester on Aug. 27.
CU potty project gets a “download” of green
Aug 14th
CU-Boulder team wins nearly $780,000
‘Reinvent the Toilet’ grant from Gates Foundation
‘Reinvent the Toilet’ grant from Gates Foundation
An interdisciplinary team of student and faculty engineers from the University of Colorado Boulder has won a grant from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation for its proposal to develop a solar-biochar toilet for use in developing countries throughout the world.
The grant is part of the Reinvent the Toilet Challenge, or RTTC, initiated by the Gates Foundation to address a sanitation challenge affecting nearly 40 percent of the world’s population.
CU-Boulder, which was awarded one of four grants in the second round announced today, will receive nearly $780,000 from the Gates Foundation over a 16-month period starting Sept. 1. CU joins last year’s grantees Caltech and Stanford as the only U.S. universities to receive an RTTC award.
The ol’ outhouse
Environmental engineering professors Karl Linden and R. Scott Summers will join with chemical and biological engineering professor Al Weimer on the project.
Biochar is a highly porous charcoal made from organic waste. The idea proposed by the CU team involves using concentrated sunlight delivered through a bundle of fiber-optic cables to heat and decompose toilet waste for reuse in improving agricultural soils.
“This project integrates areas of expertise at CU in solar-thermal processes, disinfection and biochar that would not typically work together and creates a great team to tackle such a complex and important problem as sustainable sanitation solutions in developing countries,” said Linden, who is the principal investigator on the project.
Environmental engineering graduate student Ryan Mahoney and postdoctoral researcher Tesfa Yacob, who received his doctorate in civil engineering from CU-Boulder in May, along with Richard “Chip” Fisher, a professional research assistant in Weimer’s chemical engineering group, also will be involved. Two expert consultants round out the team, one focusing on solar-thermal design and one on sanitation and hygiene in developing communities.
An upgrade
A preliminary analysis indicates that a household-sized system for a family of four could be developed at a cost of 5 to 10 cents per person per day. An intermediate-scale system for community facilities also will be evaluated as part of the grant.
Linden and Summers are working on other environmental engineering projects for developing communities, including investigating hydrothermal biochar production and low-cost water filtration and treatment technologies. Weimer will add expertise in the area of solar-thermal processing and reactor design, which he has tested extensively for the development of alternative fuels.
“This project is also very student-driven,” said Linden. “Students with classroom and field-based experiences in our Engineering for Developing Communities program have provided some excellent ideas, expertise and enthusiasm to make this project possible.”
Environmental engineering doctoral students Josh Kearns, Kyle Shimabaku and Sara Beck are also contributing to the project.
New CU students to get help moving in
Aug 14th
CU volunteers to help new students
move in Aug. 21 and Aug. 23
move in Aug. 21 and Aug. 23
Volunteers from a variety of campus groups will be available to help new students move their belongings into residence halls at the University of Colorado Boulder Aug. 21 and Aug. 23 as New Student Move-In begins next week.
New students will move in Aug. 21 through Aug. 23 with the majority of freshmen moving in on Aug. 23, according to Kambiz Khalili, executive director for Housing and Dining Services.
The volunteer movers will be stationed near all campus residence halls to help students and their parents move belongings into the halls as quickly as possible.
Volunteers from the Residence Hall Association, returning residence hall students and students from several student groups will wear CU Welcoming Assembly 2012-13 T-shirts identifying them as move-in staff. Residence Life staff members will wear building-specific T-shirts with the residence life logo and a 2012 marking.
The volunteers will be available to assist new students primarily on specified New Student Move-In dates including Tuesday, Aug. 21, from 9 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. and Thursday, Aug. 23, from 9 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. Other groups supporting volunteers at Move-In include Boulder Free Ride, Society of Woman Engineers, Mile 21-a cappella, Boulder Campus Ministry, G.O.R.D, Verve Hip Hop Team, Secular Students and Skeptics Society, Timmy Global Health, UMAS y MEChA, St. Aidan’s Episcopal Church, Canterbury Colorado, Campus Fire Ministry, CU Panhellenic Council and Interfraternity Council.
Students who attended an orientation session in the summer will move in on Aug. 23. All new students are required to move in by 5 p.m. on Aug. 23 but returning students can move into residence hall rooms anytime from Aug. 23 through the weekend, said John Fox, associate director of Residence Life.
“We’re excited to welcome our new incoming students and to help them adjust to life as college students,” Fox said. “This is a significant moment in the lives of incoming students and their families and we strive to make this experience memorable and successful.”
Information tables with handouts for new students also will be set up in key locations. On both Tuesday and Thursday, information tents will be set up at Williams Village, the Kittredge complex and the Regent Administrative Center near Farrand Field.
Orientation and social activities for new residence hall students will be held the evenings of Aug. 21 and Aug. 22. On Aug. 23 all first-year residence hall students will be required to attend a hall meeting with other students from their floors to get acquainted and to learn about policies, services, the roommate agreement and other activities planned for the week. After the hall meeting, all first-year students will attend the Ice and Dice activity at the Student Recreation Center on campus.
For a complete schedule of CU-Boulder new student welcome activities visit http://www.colorado.edu/inthemix.
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