Murray Smith
DemocraticQ1 What advisory mechanisms will you implement to ensure that evidence and scientific findings play a crucial role in your policymaking process?
“A regent’s job is governance and oversight, making sure the Board’s decisions are guided by the best available evidence. Shared governance is crucial. I’ll treat the Faculty Council and campus faculty assemblies as a channel for expert input, and seek their analysis before votes on academic and research policy rather than after. I’ll also ask that major actions come to the Board accompanied by analysis from CU System Institutional Research and relevant faculty, so we’re weighing actual data and not just anecdotes. I’ll push for transparency about the evidence itself by making the data and analysis behind significant decisions available to the public. Policy only builds trust if people can see the reasoning behind it. Protecting the independence and integrity of that research, free from political interference, is also part of the job.”
Q2 Colorado farmers are facing multiple threats, amidst water scarcity and rising prices for fertilizer and other imported materials. As agriculture is our #1 export sector, in what ways do you imagine using your role to support evidence-based advancements to protect and support our farmers and natural resources in the years ahead?
“While CSU is Colorado’s land-grant agricultural university that works directly with producers, CU’s job is to be a stronger partner by supplying the science and forecasting that farmers depend on. CU’s strength is water and climate. CU Boulder is a national leader in snowpack, drought forecasting, and hydrology, and better water forecasting means better planning for farmers. Our law school’s water-law expertise is pivotal in an age of more frequent droughts, and our economists and engineers can help with input costs and efficiency with evidence. As a regent, I’d use the budget and oversight to protect that research, encourage CU–CSU collaboration, and defend research independence.”
Q3 America has a growing AI industry, supporting cutting-edge innovation but raising issues of resource use, privacy, and economics. What is the right balance of costs and benefits for new data center construction in Colorado, and how would your policies accomplish that balance?
“We are in a water crisis in the west and I don’t think that large new data centers are a good trade for Colorado. These facilities consume enormous amounts of water for cooling—which competes directly with households—while delivering few permanent jobs. The costs land on ratepayers, rivers, and farmers.
The Regents don’t set data center siting policy, but our water scientists and economists can put hard numbers on the consumption and grid impacts so those decisions aren’t made on hype. When CU builds its own computing capacity, I’d hold us to a high standard on water and energy use, rather than adding to the problem.”
Q4 Colorado has experienced a lingering measles outbreak since March of 2025. What evidence-based policies do you support to improve community and preventive health for your constituents, for infectious diseases and other threats?
“The measles resurgence is exactly why CU’s immunization requirements matter. We need to listen to the experts by maintaining and strengthening CU’s student immunization requirements, including MMR, and keeping exemptions narrow and evidence-based. With tens of thousands of students living and learning in close quarters, clear and well-enforced requirements protect the whole campus community and the cities they’re in.”
Q5 What are your opinions on the current state of science literacy, and how could K-12 education standards be adapted to form a better public understanding of and relationship building in science?
“Too much science education treats science as facts to memorize rather than as a method for asking questions and weighing evidence. A CU Regent doesn’t set K-12 standards, but CU is the state’s most powerful lever for science literacy, mainly through teacher preparation, since our schools of education train a large share of Colorado’s teachers.”