Football director ticketed for health violation

Players hiked Mount Sanitas

Boulder has ticketed the director of the University of Colorado Boulder’s football team for a team hike on Mount Sanitas on Thursday that saw more than 100 players on the trails in violation of public health orders.

CU Boulder’s director of football operations Bryan McGinnis was issued a summons Friday for violation of a public health order, according to Boulder officials.

McGinnis was also ticketed for failure to obtain a large group permit, as Boulder Open Space and Mountain Park officials said the football team failed to apply for the permits necessar y for a group of more than 24 on open space land.

“The city continues to prioritize education of public health orders rather than issuing citations,” Boulder officials wrote in a statement. “However, law enforcement officers will issue citations for especially egregious behaviors like what occurred during this recent hike.”

According to rangers who investigated the incident after hikers brought the incident to their attention on Thursday, a total of 108 people were in the group and “that many participants were not wearing masks or

Freshman Carter Shannon also has a double room to himself in Darley North, and he will probably move in with a roommate and won’t get a sink in his new room.

“It’s kind of a hassle, and I don’t really want to move,” he said.

But he is most worried about whether CU Boulder will cancel in-person classes and ask students to leave campus.

CU Boulder has declined to provide specifics about what would cause the campus to cancel in-person classes and send students home, though of ficials have said they’re looking at classroom transmission, isolation space on campus and the overall state of coronavirus in Boulder County.

On Friday, Gov. Jared Polis said sending students home amid a surge in cases would be “ver y dangerous,” the Denver Post reported. Polis cited a spike in positive tests at an off-campus testing site on University Hill, with 16% of tests coming back positive compared to the statewide rate of 2.8%.

While CU Boulder gave pro-rated room and board refunds when campus closed in the spring, the letter to students Thursday stated that students who chose to move back home instead of into a new residence hall will be charged 50% of their remaining room and board. Students cannot request to live off-campus locally, according to the letter.

The university is also issuing a $250 credit to student accounts for the inconvenience of moving on short notice.

“We know that moving mid-semester is challenging, and we are doing ever ything we can to minimize the impacts of this change for our residents,” campus leaders wrote to students. “We will do our best to keep your community together, though we will not be able to move roommates together due to space availability. You will continue to have dedicated staff in your new building to support your needs.”