Mark R. Kennedy will become the 23rd president of the University of Colorado, securing the job with a 5-4 party-line vote by CU’s elected regents on Thursday following weeks of controversy over the nomination of the former Republican congressman.

Kennedy, 62, the president of the University of North Dakota, on July 1 will succeed outgoing CU President Bruce Benson — who faced similar backlash over his conservative politics in 2008 when he, too, was hired in a split vote by a Board of Regents fractured along party lines.

Before casting their votes Thursday, some regents of both parties urged their colleagues on the board to move beyond partisanship now that the search for a new CU leader was ending.

Much of the opposition to Kennedy’s nomination had focused on his votes against gay marriage and in favor of abortion restrictions while representing Minnesota in Congress in the early 2000s.

“We’re not hiring Mark Kennedy to be a politician. He will not be a political president of the University of Colorado,” said Regent John Carson, R-Highlands Ranch. “He will be the president of CU, period. And I have great confidence he will check his personal political beliefs at the door, just as Bruce Benson and Hank Brown before him.”

But Regent Linda Shoemaker, D-Boulder, framed the decision as one based in politics, saying CU “deserves someone who’s not a partisan.”

“We deserve an ethical academic or at least someone who can work well with Colorado’s state government, which is now 100 percent controlled by the Democratic Party,” she said. “The truth of the matter is the Republicans’ only lever of power in this state right now is the University of Colorado Board of Regents. So that’s why we will have as our leader a former Republican lawmaker. The people who vote for this today will own it, for better or for worse.”

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In a news conference following the regents’ vote, Kennedy said he would stand for unity.

“The order of the day is to build unity among regents, among the university, among the state,” Kennedy said.

Kennedy said he was prepared to bridge partisan gaps, joking about his own experience deciding on where to go to dinner among his six strong-willed siblings. He added that his time working across the aisle in Congress and “unifying UND toward a common vision” would serve him well in winning over the CU community.

“I know I need to earn trust,” Kennedy said.

The regents presented a more unified front when it came to Kennedy’s contract, voting 8-1 — with Shoemaker the lone holdout — to approve the three-year, 15-day deal. Kennedy will be paid $650,000 a year in base salary for the first year, then $850,000 a year beginning June 15, 2020. He’ll also be eligible for $200,000 in bonuses.

Benson, a multimillionaire who famously turned down raises, currently earns $358,500 a year, according to Ken McConnellogue, CU system spokesman.

“It’s what he’s stood for”

Metal detectors and police officers flanked the doors leading into the Anschutz Medical Campus’ Krugman Hall, where the vote was held Thursday. A small group of students and faculty members gathered before the meeting in protest of Kennedy.

After the Board of Regents made one of its most important decisions — hiring the person who will steer the multi-billion-dollar, four-campus system into the future — there was not much fanfare. Much of the conversation regarding Kennedy and his presidency going forward centered around repairing the damage done during the contentious two weeks that followed his nomination.

Following the vote, one student in the audience rose to her feet and shouted “You should be ashamed!” at the regents.

Monica Edwards, 27, is a full-time staff member and a part-time student studying public health at the CU medical campus who organized the opposition at Thursday’s regents meeting.

“To me, it’s a little baffling how political it’s been,” Edwards said. “It’s not that he’s politically different from me. It’s that, as someone who gets insurance here, this is my right to reproductive care. It’s my right to research things valuable to my state. We are one of the only institutions in the country that still teaches how to provide abortions. It’s not his political leanings. It’s what he’s stood for.”

Kennedy’s nomination last month immediately proved controversial among the CU community. None of the people who addressed the regents at their public meeting — students, former Regent Bob Sievers, CU staffers — spoke favorably of Kennedy.

When Regent Glen Gallegos, R-Grand Junction, declared his support for Kennedy prior to the vote, he said he was won over during the interview process because Kennedy was the “only candidate that could talk about higher education and how we could move into the 21st century.”

A few in the audience laughed at Gallegos’ statement, and the regent responded by saying he hadn’t laughed during public comment.

Regent Lesley Smith, a Democrat holding an at-large seat on the board, said she could not vote for Kennedy because CU’s faculty did not support his candidacy. It was a position reiterated by other Democrats, who said they looked at the survey data of faculty members opposing Kennedy’s nomination and heard the same from an overwhelming number of community members through emails, letters and phone calls.

“With the exception of a small handful, the overwhelming majority of faculty do not want Mark Kennedy to be the next president of our illustrious (flagship) university system,” Smith said.

After Kennedy’s hiring was announced, LGBTQ advocacy organization One Colorado said it had reached out to Kennedy through the Board of Regents, with Executive Director Daniel Ramos noting that the issue was important to him as a “proud alum” of CU who heard concerns from many members of the community about Kennedy’s candidacy.

“We had a productive conversation about some key issues, including transgender and women’s health care, Title IX, and the push for federal nondiscrimination protections,” Ramos wrote in a statement. “Since Kennedy would be coming from a state with no protections for LGBTQ people to a state with some of the best protections for LGBTQ people, we emphasized the importance of his voice as a conservative in the discussion in support of LGBTQ issues.

“After Mark Kennedy’s confirmation, One Colorado will be here to hold Mark Kennedy accountable for his commitment to not take the university backwards.”

“We have to come together”

About three weeks elapsed between the time Kennedy was unveiled as the finalist and Thursday’s vote. During that time, as Kennedy tried to win over the community he planned on leading, the former congressman also had to navigate roadblocks of his own making — including asking to skip a Colorado Public Radio question on affirmative action and admitting he didn’t sign a letter supporting North Dakota’s undocumented students because he didn’t think the campus had any.

Kennedy’s tours across the four CU campuses resulted in him sharing his first-generation college student background, his business acumen and academic accomplishments that included seeing North Dakota through difficult budget cuts. His visits to Denver, Colorado Springs, Anschutz Medical Campus and Boulder concluded in being booed by the audience in Macky Auditorium.

Following Kennedy’s campus visits, two Democratic regents, Shoemaker and Irene Griego, made public statements asserting their planned “no” votes on Kennedy’s presidency. Republican Regent Chance Hill posted his support for Kennedy on Facebook, accusing “a well-orchestrated Far Leftist mob” of smear tactics against the sole presidential finalist.

Kennedy said he will work hard to make sure the elected Board of Regents is not partisan and will start by meeting with each member.

“My goal is to understand their personal goals, aspirations,” Kennedy said. “To understand where we have unity and work on conflict between the board, but having a shared vision as to what we can do together is the best way. That has been my path throughout my life and that’s what I intend to focus on.”

To move forward, Regent Jack Kroll, D-Denver, said the next step is holding Kennedy accountable to the promises he made.

“We have to come together and bring the community together,” Kroll said. “We need to take some time to give Mark Kennedy a chance. What you saw downstairs was nine very passionate people who also care very deeply about the university. If there’s anything we have in common, it’s that.”