| University of Colorado Mass Communication Professor Michael Tracey has been evaluated as being “below expectations” for two consecutive faculty performance ratings. CU spokesman Bronson Hilliard said that while he could not comment on a specific faculty member’s evaluations, two consecutive ratings of “below expectations” are supposed to trigger a process CU calls “extensive post-tenure review.“Communicating to CompleteColorado.com through the University’s public relations department, Tracey declined to be interviewed, saying his evaluations were a matter to be kept private between him and his employer.Tracey garnered 15 minutes of fame in 2006 when he became known as the professor who lured John Mark Karr out from obscurity and into the custody of Boulder Police, in the one-and-only arrest ever made for the murder of JonBenét Ramsey. The case quickly collapsed, however, after Karr was arrested in Thailand, extradited to Boulder, and DNA confirmed Karr was only a pretender to the crime.In the definitive article on the Ramsey-Tracey-Karr fiasco, Westword magazine said Tracey had lost all interest in teaching undergraduates, quoting him directly as saying, “They drive me goddamn crazy.”
Tracey also produced multiple documentaries on the Ramsey murder, most of which aired mainly in the UK. Westword journalist Alan Pendergast called Tracey’s documentaries on the Ramsey murder, “…glaring examples of shoddy, agenda-driven reporting and the packaging of speculation as fact.” Below are the two most recent evaluations of Tracey, provided to CompleteColorado.com under the state’s open records act. ***END OF REPORT*** |
