March 18, 2005

Under Fire on 2 Fronts, U. of Colorado Chief Resigns

An academic-freedom battle and a football scandal take their toll on Ms. Hoffman

By PAUL FAIN

Elizabeth Hoffman, the president of the University of Colorado, has weathered an exceptional amount of controversy in the last 14 months. In January 2004, allegations of sexual assaults linked to the football team landed the university in the national spotlight. A year later a Colorado professor became the focus of widespread outrage over an essay in which he compared victims of the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks to a notorious Nazi.

But the first week of this month was too