He served in the Colorado Senate from 1972 to 1976, and was elected to the United States House of Representatives in 1980, serving until 1991. In 1990, he was elected to the United States Senate, where he served one term, not running again in the 1996 election. From 1998 to 2002, he was president of the University of Northern Colorado. Brown and his wife, Nan, live in Denver. In 1995, Brown was involved with the Airstan Incident, where he mediated efforts for a prisoner exchange between Russia and the Taliban, which ultimately broke down. However, his efforts did set up an escape by the Russian prisoners.
CU President
In April 2005, Brown was named to succeed Elizabeth Hoffman, as the president of the University of Colorado on an interim basis. Brown took office on August 1, 2005. Upon taking this role, he inherited a system weakened by sharply decreasing state appropriations, and scandals that included allegations of misuse of foundation funds, instances of sexual assault by members of the football team, waning public confidence, and sharp criticism in the state newspapers. He was later praised for the effective remedies he implemented for aggressively attacking these issues. During his interim tenure, Brown also led the university through the controversy surrounding Ethnic Studies professor Ward Churchill. An investigation of Churchill for academic misconduct which had been supported by American Council of Trustees and Alumni, an organization that Brown had co-founded in 1995, identified seven separate instances of misconduct and referred the matter to the university administration. Brown urged the Board of Regents to dismiss Churchill, which it did in March 2006, overriding a tenure committee recommendation for one-year suspension. The decision was met with mixed opinion. Those in favor applauded the decision based on the findings of academic fraud, while those opposed believe the firing was simply a smokescreen to silence his views. In a July 2007 Wall Street Journal op-ed on the Churchill affair, Brown wrote: "Controversy -- especially self-sought controversy -- doesn't immunize a faculty member from adhering to professional standards." In May 2006, the regents appointed Brown permanently. Later that year, he announced an initiative to add class rankings to student transcripts as a counterweight to grade inflation. In 2007, CU set a fundraising record of $133 million, with some donors "credit Brown with restoring their confidence in the university." Brown tendered his resignation January 18, 2007 and left his post effective March 10, 2008.
