Back in the eastern U .S. most of the top universities are
private institutions, but one of the things you find in the western part of the
country is that enrollment in higher education is overwhelmingly in state
schools. Maybe it seems that way to me partly because that was my experience
having gone to Duke University for undergraduate and then the University of Colorado
for graduate school. In Colorado the big two academically are University of Colorado
in Boulder and Colorado State University in Fort Collins, but the most
significant of the private schools is the University of Denver which has some
historical ties to the Methodist Church.

For all my years of living in and around Denver, though, I
never took the time to walk around and check out the campus. At this point that
seems especially strange to me since not only have I lived within two of three miles
of campus for over two years, during the years I lived in Highlands Ranch in
the early 2000s I’d drive past the campus on University Boulevard almost every
time I went into Denver. I recall marveling at all the new construction of
academic buildings that was taking place, but it didn’t seem to occur to me
then to stop and look around.

Earlier in 2011 I began working with a consulting group or “Think
Tank” called Center for Colorado’s Economic Future that was operated by former
co-workers of mine at the legislature back in the 1990s who now work
independently. The center is vaguely affiliated with University of Denver and
housed in an office in a small building on the perimeter of campus . So through
the first part of the year I often made trips there and later on had an
occasion to make a presentation of findings in another academic building on
campus. But it was only after that and noticing how nice the campus looked that
I made it a point of heading to campus for a thorough walkabout on a cool
weekend afternoon.

As you can see from my pictures the campus is quite
beautiful with some very distinctive buildings. The golden spire looks like
something that might be historic, but I recall it appearing on D.U.’s “skyline”
sometime around 2001or so. University of Denver has a reputation in Colorado for
being a bit snobbish and the preserve of rich kids, perhaps with academics that
don’t justify its high tuition relative to public schools. The university
certainly has enough income from endowment or donations for continuous
expansion and impressive new edifices.