When I was in J-school I was taught to have at least three sources for any article, and they should show different angles of a story. I only see two above -- CWA's new strategic plan and John Griffin. CU's Comm team put out an article about this new strategic plan already, so don't see how this one contributes anything different.
A quote comes to mind:
"Those who stand for nothing fall for anything."
There's been talk from the new director that they might pay conservative participants to come. Seems like the artists and storytellers and musicians might be the ones who actually need that kind of compensation, but CU is making their priorities clear. Benson has already donated $100,000 to the CWA athenaum program for guest conservative speakers. Seems like paying ANY of the participants to come would totally change the CWA dynamic. If the CWA becomes a speaking gig, the panel dynamics would totally change
This is a different group of people than the 41 who are leaving. You're making incorrect assumptions
And furthermore, I am appalled that CU is letting John Griffin stay. Krieger is not exaggerating when he says the conference as we know it is dead. I'm very saddened that future students will not have the same positive experience that I did.
Hi Swiched13! I'm a former student who's life was vastly improved and changed for the better after attending and getting involved with the conference. Yes there are a lot of grey hairs in the panels' audiences, but that doesn't mean that it's a bad use of CU funds. It was the very, very best part of my college experience and is what led me to getting two job offers after school, because I was able to put my CWA leadership experience on my resume. None of my professors or classes gave me anything nearly as valuable as CWA.
I'm pretty positive that Macky has the highest capacity of all indoor event venues in Boulder (Folsom is outside and Boulder Theater only holds like 1,000). Soooo Not_NORML, sorry that isn't good enough for you. What should CWA strive for instead? Filling Invesco? Is CWA not valuable because only 1,700 people attended the keynote?
YES heinlein and NOPE to jsaturn22
A friendly reminder that " those who are involved in running CWA" are all currently leaving their positions. While I agree with some of what Marilyn and montya have said -- you both have good suggestions for improving the conference -- there are much, much bigger issues at hand. If the director and the administration stay their current course, there won't be a conference left to be improved. Seriously. It sounds like you, Marilyn and montya, love CWA for how it's been and want to see it continue to grow and improve -- if it can't stay at the baseline it's already at, it's not worth it to even discuss how it can improve.
I'm throwing my hat in the ring for CWA preservation.
Hi montya, I agree it's painful to watch this unfold. Because the university is such a behemoth, slow-moving institution, it will take a lot of the above sort of public sentiment and pressure for the Chancellor to finally make the decision that's best for CWA. What we're seeing is the stakeholders of CWA refusing to trust Griffin moving forward -- they've been burned too many times. They are banging pots and pans because the conference is in genuine jeopardy. If you love the conference too, aren't you glad that someone is making noise in it's defense?
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