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Hank Brown
21st President of theUniversity of Colorado System
In office August 1, 2005 – March 10, 2008 Acting: August 1, 2005 – May 2006
Preceded by	Elizabeth Hoffman
Succeeded by	Bruce D. Benson
President of theUniversity of Northern Colorado
In office July 1998 – June 2002
Preceded by	Howard Skinner (acting)
Succeeded by	Kay Norton
United States Senator fromColorado
In office January 3, 1991 – January 3, 1997
Preceded by	William L. Armstrong
Succeeded by	Wayne Allard
Member of theU.S. House of Representatives fromColorado's4th district
In office January 3, 1981 – January 3, 1991
Preceded by	James Paul Johnson
Succeeded by	Wayne Allard
Member of theColorado Senate from the 29th district
In office January 3, 1973 – January 5, 1977
Preceded by	Ken Kinnie
Succeeded by	Duane Woodard
Personal details
Born	George Hanks Brown (1940-02-12)February 12, 1940 (age 86) Denver,Colorado, U.S.
Party	Republican
Education	University of Colorado, Boulder (BS,JD) George Washington University (LLM)
Military service
Branch/service	United States Navy
Years of service	1962–1966
Rank	Lieutenant
Battles/wars	Vietnam War

George Hanks "Hank" Brown (born February 12, 1940) is an American politician and lawyer fromColorado. He is a formerRepublican politician who served as aU.S. Representative andU.S. Senator. He served as the president of theUniversity of Northern Colorado from July 1998 to June 2002, and later as the 21st president of theUniversity of Colorado system from April 2005 to January 2008.

Brown was born inDenver in 1940, and graduated from college in 1961 and from law school in 1969, both from theUniversity of Colorado. Brown also has a Master of Laws degree fromGeorge Washington University. At the former, he became a member ofDelta Tau Delta International Fraternity.^[1]

Brown served in theUnited States Navy from 1962 to 1966. He was an aviator and volunteered for service inVietnam. He was decorated for his combat service as aforward air controller.

He served in theColorado Senate from 1972 to 1976 and was elected to theUnited States House of Representatives in1980, serving until 1991.^[2] In1990, he was elected to theUnited States Senate in which he served one term and did not run again in the1996 election. From 1998 to 2002, he was president of theUniversity of Northern Colorado. Brown and his wife, Nan, live in Denver.

In 1995, Brown was involved with theAirstan incident in which he mediated efforts for a prisoner exchange between Russia and the Taliban, which ultimately broke down, but his efforts set up an escape by the Russian prisoners.^[3]

In April 2005, Brown was named to succeedElizabeth Hoffman as the president of theUniversity of Colorado on an interim basis. Brown took office on August 1, 2005. Upon taking this role, he inherited a system weakened by sharply decreasing state appropriations, and scandals that included allegations of misuse of foundation funds, instances of sexual assault by members of the football team, waning public confidence, and sharp criticism in the state newspapers. He was later praised for the effective remedies he implemented for aggressively attacking these issues.^[4]

During his interim tenure, Brown also led the university through the controversy surrounding Ethnic Studies professorWard Churchill. Aninvestigation of Churchill for academic misconduct which had been supported byAmerican Council of Trustees and Alumni, an organization that Brown had co-founded in 1995, identified seven separate instances of misconduct and referred the matter to the university administration.^[5] Brown urged the Board of Regents to dismiss Churchill, which it did in March 2006, overriding a tenure committee recommendation for one-year suspension. The decision was met with mixed opinion. Those in favor applauded the decision based on the findings of academic fraud, while those opposed believe the firing was simply a smokescreen to silence his views.^[6][7] In a July 2007Wall Street Journal op-ed on the Churchill affair, Brown wrote: "Controversy -- especially self-sought controversy -- doesn't immunize a faculty member from adhering to professional standards."^[8]

In May 2006, the regents appointed Brown permanently. Later that year, he announced an initiative to add class rankings to student transcripts as a counterweight tograde inflation.^[9]

In 2007, CU set a fundraising record of $133 million, with some donors "credit[ing] Brown with restoring their confidence in the university."^[10]Brown tendered his resignation January 18, 2007 and left his post effective March 10, 2008.^[11]

Brown is a member of the board of theInternational Foundation for Electoral Systems, a non-profit organization which supports international elections.^[12]

• Hank Brown, John B. Cooney, and Michael B. Poliakoff, 'Openness, Transparency, and Accountability: Fostering Public Trust in Higher Education', inThe Politically Correct University: Problems, Scope, and Reforms, Robert Maranto (ed.), Richard E. Redding (ed.), Frederick M. Hess (ed.), Washington, D.C.: TheAEI Press, 2009

• United States Congress."Hank Brown (id: B000919)".Biographical Directory of the United States Congress.
• CU president Hank Brown will receive the 2008 Citizen of the West award^{[permanent dead link]}
• Brown well-deserving of Citizen of the West honor
• Brown for President
• Brown Named To Newton Endowed Chair At CU-Boulder
• Appearances onC-SPAN

• 1940 births
• 20th-century members of the Colorado General Assembly
• 20th-century United States representatives
• 20th-century United States senators
• George Washington University Law School alumni
• Living people
• Politicians from Denver
• Presidents of the University of Colorado System
• Republican Party Colorado state senators
• Republican Party United States representatives from Colorado
• Republican Party United States senators from Colorado
• United States Navy officers
• United States Navy personnel of the Vietnam War
• University of Colorado Law School alumni

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