Students walk around Auraria Campus in Denver, Colorado on September 2, 2021. The campus consists of three schools: Community College of Denver, Metropolitan State University of Denver and University of Colorado Denver.
That review, conducted by higher education consulting firm Keeling & Associates, concluded CU Denver’s mental health services were understaffed and insufficient to meet the increasing needs of students. “I respect the Faculty Assembly process and willingness to engage with me,” Nakuma wrote. “I recognize that there is more work to be done, but I am optimistic that we can come together in a productive manner and make continued progress.”
This feedback was dismissed, Beck said. Nakuma removed Ellin in “a really brutal, public way” in July, having her escorted out and publicly implying wrongdoing on her part, according to Beck and the Faculty Assembly’s censure resolution. Over the summer, faculty documented 31 students who left the CU Denver Business School because other universities had “functioning” financial aid offices, according to the resolution.
In the summer of 2022, Monique L. Snowden, CU Denver’s senior vice chancellor for strategic enrollment and student success, commissioned Keeling & Associates to conduct a review of the campus’s mental health services. The consulting firm’s final report, dated March 2023 and obtained by The Post, included interviews with counseling staff and data, and was highly critical of the university’s mental health offerings.
CU Denver budgets about $2 million on mental health and dedicates 19 positions to its counseling center, case management operation and related services, officials said. “From your letter, I gleaned a desire for more communication, more transparency, more collaboration, more accountability and more standardized operating procedures for how we interact, and measure and report on our progress,” Naukma wrote in his letter to the Faculty Assembly. “I absolutely agree and look forward to sitting down and working with you to co-create a blueprint for our future.”