Colorado Mesa University — Local services in Grand Junction

Should Felons be allowed to go to Colorado Mesa University? David Downey has been trying for a year and a half now to become a student at Colorado Mesa University. He has gone down and paid for a copy of his record from the sheriff’s department, personally had delivered it to the dean of students and sat down and wrote a big long letter for them, as they asked, to explain why he did what he did, and what he wishes he had done differently. After exhausting himself doing everything, the Dean at Colorado Mesa University asked him to do, he was still turned away, not due to his back ground but because when asked on the school application what his felonies where for and when they had been committed, he had not listed every single one due to the fact that there was not enough room on the application and he knew that he would be giving them an official copy of his record. David Downey has showed time and time again that he would do what it takes to go to Colorado Mesa University, yet he continues to get denied. Colorado Mesa University should let people with felonies who have been out of the judicial system for seven years go to school at the university. Now I understand there are certain circumstances where some felonies shouldn’t be allow no matter how old they are such as sexual predators, and murderers… but some people with lesser felonies should be allowed if they are willing to put forth the efforts to show that they really want to better their lives by going back to school. Now don’t get me wrong, there are students at Colorado Mesa University that are have lesser offences walking around, these students have ankle monitors, or are hanging out in groups comparing what they have done in the past and why they are now going to school, But is it really fair? Is it really fair to let men and women with ankle monitors, who are clearly in trouble for something walk around on campus and stop the men and women who have served their time and want to get a higher education? No! I believe that if you have paid you dues to the judicial system and done your time, you deserve a higher education just like anyone else. Felons have a hard enough time getting jobs without having to battle the need for a higher education on top of their records. A background and a background, if you have a lesser criminal back ground you should be required to show your record, explain what you did wrong and why, and what you would do differently if you could…… after that you should meet with the dean discuss an acceptance. Even if they were accepted under a probationary period and had to prove that getting an education is really what they want to do, I would understand, but being blatantly denied for something that they cannot change is unfair and unacceptable. Everyone does things in their life that they regret and wish they could change, but most are not judged by that when they want to get an education, just “criminals”. I put in an email to the dean of students here at Colorado Mesa University to sit down and get his input on why some people are allowed to go to the university while other are not. In response I was asked to set up a time to go in and sit down with him. Due to being unable to get a meeting time scheduled I did not get to speak with him. I have sent other emails trying to get a response via email but have got nothing back. I feel that Colorado Mesa University is bias against who they let in to the University based on what they did in the past instead of what they are ready and willing to do today. I also feel that it is unjust for Colorado Mesa University to turn away men and women who have served their time in the judicial system and now want to better their lives...

Since I arrived at CMU (then it was Mesa State College) with an AA already, the majority of my experience involved just the program of my major, therefore I an unable to review the school as a whole. What I can do, though, is provide an assessment of the program of my major, geology, which is essentially unchanged in terms of faculty since I graduated. A one word description for this program would be "awful". The faculty are by-and-large arrogant and self-indulgent, while at the same time apathetic about their students' success, with some members even occasionally taking perverse delight in their students' failures. Faculty and staff are uncooperative with and hostile toward each other, creating a dysfunctional and negative atmosphere often spreads to their students (I even had a faculty member from another department once as me why geology students were always in a bad mood). The faculty seem merely interested in doing as little work and devoting as little time as necessary to enable them to still get a paycheck. As professors, they extracted all the fun and interest out of a fascinating and wonderful subject. As advisers they are, again, typically apathetic and ill informed, usually providing poor or erroneous information about career and graduate school opportunities (I ended up not getting all of the classes I needed for grad school thanks to some very bad information from my adviser).

After only a short time in the program I realized the program was sub-par. What I didn't expect was how bad the program was relative to other state colleges and that the CMU geology program's poor reputation was well known to industry as well. I've had one potential employer decline my resume saying they don't care for CMU graduates (and prefer graduates from Western), and another tell me that CMU graduates are rarely considered because they are usually "ill prepared" (direct quote). Having a degree from this college has proven to be much more of a liability than I ever thought possible.

The sad tragedy is that the setting of CMU, situated as it is on the edge of the spectacular Colorado Plateau, attracts outstanding students so the quality of the geology students at CMU is as good or better than at any other Colorado college. I met and studied with some of the hardest working, most enthusiastic, most motivated, and best students I ever hope to meet at that college. The CMU geology program doesn't deserve the great students who walk through its door.

Take my advice: if you're a geology student, save yourself a lot of wasted energy and go to a college where the faculty will be as devoted to the subject as you are. If you are in this program right now, try to transfer or at least get any graduate school advising from your chosen grad school and don't rely on or believe anything the CMU faculty...

I believe that somebody should investigate this university at the administrative level. Not only are they in the business of buying off Federally issued student loans so that they may profit off of student debt (they paid off my Fed student loan WITHOUT CONSULTING ME FIRST and are now saying that I owe them the amount, something which I wouldn't have imagined is even legal to do) they apparently are now also in the hotel business. This new Hotel Maverick of theirs is a for-profit business which somehow is part of a state (and Federally) funded public university. Look at their website online: it literally says that they (Hotel Maverick) are part of CMU in every way. Go on Google and you can book a room there for around $200 a night.

How is operating a hotel a requirement for an institute of higher learning? What's next, a government subsidized shopping mall with high end retail outlets? Oh wait, they already have that too. Colorado Mesa State University is a major source of revenue for the Grand Valley, I get that. I also understand the desire to expand this institution and to gain some clout in the collegiate scene. But what lengths are they willing to go to achieve this? Engaging in unethical and maybe even illegal business practices? I believe, based on my experience with them, that for CMU higher education takes a back seat to the acquisition of profit. I do not recommend this...