In April of 2023 , former DHS teacher Robert Logan sat down with House District 59 Representative Barbara McLaughlin to discuss the workload for her position, which ends this coming January. She suggested he run for CU Regent, to which he said, “What’s a regent?”
That question – which kickstarted his campaign – was asked to him countless times throughout his lengthy campaign process, where he traveled over 6,000 miles across Colorado’s 3rd Congressional District (CD3), which is larger than 22 states, including Pennsylvania. According to his website, he taught at Durango High School from 1998 to 2023 – an impressive 25 years teaching history to the students of DHS. And when he retired, he needed something to keep himself occupied. After some research, “deciding what Regents do and why they’re important,” Logan decided that the job might be perfect.
A Regent is a member of the governing board of University of Colorado, which is the 3rd largest employer in the state with 36,500 employees and 67,000 students attending the four campuses, according to the CU website. They set tuition, approve professor’s tenures, and more. After sitting on the board for the Durango Education Foundation, which grants scholarships to Durango seniors to go to college, Logan had some ideas in mind for what he could change at CU.
Logan said that the budget for all campuses this year is 6.28 billion, and only 5% of the Boulder campus’ budget was provided by the state. Logan says, “the state at the legislative level is not participating in higher education in a very significant number, they’re basically taking money away from [the university].”
The rest of the budget is made up by tuition, especially from international and out of state students, who pay about $63,000 and $43,000 dollars respectively for each year at the university. In-state students pay about $30,000 a year. To make up for the large difference, the university recruits out of the state, meaning that “it really isn’t focused on state students.” One of his first goals would have been to increase the option to attend CU to all qualified state students, but especially to those from rural Colorado, which makes up most of CD3.
Unfortunately, Logan lost the election to his Republican opponent, Ray Scott, by about 40,000 votes. Logan said that “If you want to run for any position within Congressional District 3, the only way you’ll win is to be Republican.” All of the Democratic candidates for CD3 lost their races, painting a picture of the political nature of the district, which is heavily Republican.
Despite the loss, Logan was looking on the bright side. He won in La Plata county by approximately 5,000 votes, and also by significant margins in other counties nearby. “I won the people that know me, which is great,” he said. Logan enjoyed traveling throughout CD3 and talking to the many people that represent our district.
