Metropolitan State College of Denver’s bid to become a university cleared its last hurdle last Tuesday when the Colorado House of Representatives passed a bill to allow the name change.

Metro will officially become the Metropolitan State University of Denver on July 1.

S.B. 148 won with overwhelming support, winning by a margin of 56-6, with Republicans representing five of the six detractors. The bill now awaits the action of the governor, and it is expected by all sides that he will sign it into law.

Metro’s bid to change its name had previously died last year, when the DU administration spoke out against it. After rounds of negotiations, DU and Metro signed a co-existence contract last February. The contract limits Metro’s ability to infringe on DU’s trademarks and vice versa. With DU’s support, the legislature decided all sides were happy.

“After extensive negotiation, the University of Denver and Metropolitan State College came to an agreement regarding the name change,” said Democratic Representative Crisanta Duran, the main House sponsor and a DU alumnus. “I believe all sides are content with the final result.”

Recent emails obtained by the press through open-records laws showed the President of the University of Colorado, Bruce Benson, was not a big fan of the legislation.

“It is bad public policy to engage in the kind of mission creep they have with the addition of graduate programs, particularly at a modified open enrollment institution with a six-year graduation rate of just 20.5 percent,” Benson wrote in an email. “Changing their name to a university not only creates brand confusion, it does not accurately reflect the kind of institution it is. It’s mostly window dressing.”

Benson’s office quickly responded and said CU was not lobbying against the bill in any way.

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