DiStefano's 40-minute speech focused on the Boulder campus's strategic plan and its goals for the future. But after the prepared remarks were finished, it was clear that students, faculty and staff still had questions about what happened that day two weeks ago.
The first three questions from the audience for DiStefano were about the officer-involved shooting that occurred the morning of Oct. 5 and the later reports that a gunman was inside the CU student center.
Police were called to CU's Champions Center at Folsom Field a little after 9 a.m. that day. Inside a stairwell of the building, they confronted a man holding a machete. When he refused to drop the weapon, the officers fired at the man, according to police officials.
The man, later identified as 28-year-old Brandon Simmons, died at the scene.
Though the morning incident ended relatively quickly, the afternoon was chaotic on campus. A few hours after the officer-involved shooting, there were reports of a gunman at the University Memorial Center.
The campus Twitter account first characterized the report as false, even as police officers were clearing the building floor by floor. People inside were evacuated and several buildings nearby were placed on lockdown.
Then, CU backtracked and called the reports unconfirmed, instructing students and employees to take protective action. Finally, CU gave the all clear and described the reports of a gunman as a hoax.
That flip-flopping gave rise to confusion and frustration among CU students, their parents and campus employees.
On Tuesday, DiStefano said he's been meeting with CU's emergency management team to review what happened that day. He said police dispatchers were getting "so much information from so many different sources" that it was difficult to figure out "what was true and what was false."
"As a result, there was quite a bit of confusion, but please keep in mind that there were no injuries," DiStefano said.
He also said that he decided not to close campus because he believed the incident at the Champions Center was an isolated one and that he didn't believe there was a threat to the rest of campus.
Asked why the officers didn't use less lethal force when confronting Simmons, DiStefano said the Boulder County Critical Incident Team is still reviewing the shooting and will produce a public report to the Boulder County District Attorney's Office when the investigation is complete.
Before taking questions from the audience, DiStefano discussed CU's Flagship 2030 plan, a strategic visioning document created in 2007.
DiStefano explained how the strategic plan, now nearly 10 years old, aligns with his three main goals for the campus: improving CU's reputation, diversifying CU's revenue sources and improving student success.
CU has updated the Flagship 2030 vision and will now strive "to be a leader in addressing the humanitarian, social and technological challenges of the twenty-first century," according to DiStefano.
The chancellor reminded the campus of a few of his goals: to improve the six-year graduation rate to 80 percent by 2020, to increase enrollments in professional master's degree programs by 3,000 students by 2020, to increase fundraising to $200 million annually, to increase enrollments in online programs by 3,000 students by 2020 and to grow federal research dollars to $605 million annually.
DiStefano also talked about efforts to improve the campus climate and to increase diversity at CU.
"We will continue to measure and track our progress on climate and safety while being transparent about these results," he said.
Sarah Kuta: 303-473-1106, kutas@dailycamera.com or twitter.com/sarahkuta
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