“It is a moral issue,'' said state Rep. Terrance Carroll, D-Denver. “I call upon CU, President Brown and other leaders of the state ... to stand with us in telling our kids this is a state free of hatred, this is a state free of bigotry and this will be a state free of racism.''
The leaders said they would ask the university to agree to an outside audit of progress.
“Someone has to be able to validate CU statistics to make sure they're relevant and haven't been (changed) to put on a good public face,'' Webb said.
McKinney said Brown is open to that idea but will wait to hear the commission's recommendations before determining whether an outside monitor might be necessary.
Of the approximately 28,600 students on the Boulder campus this year, 6 percent are Hispanic or Latino, 6 percent Asian, 1.4 percent black and 0.6 percent American Indian, the university reported.
Overall, 19 percent of Colorado residents are Hispanic or Latino, while Blacks make up 4 percent of the state's population, according to the Census Bureau's 2004 American Community Survey.
Last month, the Pioneer Fund of Denver donated $1 million to help CU establish a $7.5 million scholarship endowment to boost diversity through the school's Pre-Collegiate Development Program, which prepares middle school and high school students from traditionally underrepresented groups for college.
— Associated Press
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