University of Denver News Releases
Tuesday, September 4, 2007
DU panel begins in-depth look at Colorado Constitution
Rutgers constitutional expert in Denver to kick off four-month review
DENVER—The 2007 University of Denver Strategic Issues Panel kicks off its study of the Colorado Constitution this week with presentations from national and local state constitutional experts. This week’s presentations open a four-month review by an independent, non-partisan panel of citizen experts from across the state brought together by Jim Griesemer, director of DU’s Strategic Issues Program, an annual program launched this year to study critical state issues. A report from this year’s constitution panel will be released to the public in January 2008.
Robert F. Williams
Associate Director, Center for State Constitutional Studies, Rutgers University
Wednesday, Sept. 5, 2007, 3 to 5 p.m.
Phipps Mansion, 3400 Belcaro Drive
Williams, who has written extensively on state constitutional law and legislation, will present an overview of the state constitutional revision process, focusing on how to measure the effectiveness of the Colorado Constitution and various methods available to revise or reform the state’s guiding document. The panel, he writes, needs to evaluate whether time and numerous amendments have made the Colorado Constitution “functionally incoherent,” and, if so, whether it should best be modified through additional amendments or overhauled with a constitutional convention. He calls for “hard-nosed, in the trenches assessment, not a library exercise.”
Williams is a Distinguished Professor of Law at Rutgers University School of Law in Camden, New Jersey, who received his BA from Florida State University; his J.D. from the University of Florida College of Law; an LL.M. from New York University School of Law; and an LL.M from Columbia Law School. He has represented clients before the Florida Constitution Revision Commission and is the author of “State Constitutional Law: Cases and Materials.”
Charles S. “Charlie” Brown
Director, DU Center for Colorado’s Economic Future
Friday, Sept. 7, 2007, 8:15 to 9:45 a.m.
DU School of Hotel, Restaurant and Tourism Management, 2044 E. Evans Ave.
Brown, who was executive director of the state Legislative Council for 17 years, will review the fiscal implications of the Colorado Constitution. He will focus on the principal problems with the constitution and evaluate the seriousness of those problems.
Brown holds a bachelor’s degree from the University of Colorado and was a 1994 Gates Fellow at the John F. Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University. He earned numerous awards and ongoing recognition during his three decades of public service. He now leads the newly established DU Center for Colorado’s Economic Future, which provides analysis and commentary on economic trends and proposed fiscal legislation.
Douglas G. Brown
Former Director of the Colorado Office of Legislative Legal Services
Friday, Sept. 7, 2007, 10:15 to 11:45 a.m.
DU School of Hotel, Restaurant and Tourism Management, 2044 E. Evans Ave.
Brown, who directed the Colorado legislature’s legal services office for 23 years, will focus on specific procedures for amending the Colorado constitution, including the legal requirements for possible legislation, ballot initiatives or a constitutional convention.
Brown retired in 2003 after 31 years with the Colorado Office of Legislative Legal Services. He earned a BA from DU, a JD from Northwestern University School of Law and is licensed to practice law in Colorado. He has lectured on political science and law at DU and spoken nationally on the impacts of term limits, open government and information policy.
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