Draconian Steps in Denver

A Skidmore or a Mount Holyoke it never was. But Colorado Women's College in Denver had improved academically from the finishing school that used to produce Miss Americas (1955 and 1974), splendid skiers and fine wives for cadets at the nearby Air Force Academy. Still, over the past decade enrollment had dropped from 1,100 to 509, and last week the school's debt stood at $5.6 million. President Sherry Manning, 37, a University of Colorado Ph.D. in management science, felt that drastic measures were needed. She stunned the campus by announcing that because of "financial exigency," 25 out of 35 full-time faculty (including several tenured teachers) were to be fired. The administration asked librarians and an admissions recruiter to double as classroom teachers during the emergency. Treat Hall, the administration building, would be closed to cut heating bills. A third of the elm-shaded 50-acre campus in Denver's choice Park Hill neighborhood was being put up for sale.

Faculty members considered a lawsuit charging breach of contract. "The plans are madness," snorted John West, assistant professor of political science, who flew back from Paris for the new term only to discover that his class had been scrapped. Students registered for West's course in Middle Eastern Politics found themselves dumped into Pol. Sci. 335:

Capitalism and Politics in the 20th Century. Fearing that C.W.C. will now lose its accreditation or even close down, students camped in protest outside the president's office and chanted, "Manning must go."

But the president, plagued by creditors and collection agencies, was unmoved. "If there were any other alternative," said she, "we would have adopted it."

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