2012 January | American Federation of Teachers New Jersey, AFL-CIO

Diane Ravitch Takes On Obama’s Higher Ed Plan

January 31, 2012

An education analyst and former assistant Education Secretary who became famous for an about-face on No Child Left Behind warned college presidents Monday that changes similar to the 2001 higher education law were coming to higher education. Diane Ravitch, a professor of education at New York University, spoke to the National Association of Independent Colleges and Universities, criticized many trends in higher education policy and President Obama’s new plan to increase college affordability. An increasing reliance on productivity and outcomes data will result in a generation of students who cannot learn or think for themselves, she warned. “The more we attempt to quantify what cannot be quantified, the more we narrow the purposes of higher education,” Ravitch said, calling on college presidents to stand up for academic freedom and resist the “accountability juggernaut.” Her remarks were met with a standing ovation — but only from part of the audience, and some did not clap at all.

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Rutgers-Camden, Rowan may marry, but they should keep their names

January 31, 2012

Kevin Riordan, Inquirer Columnist

Gov. Christie’s proposal to “merge” Rutgers-Camden and Rowan University under the Rowan name looks less like a collegial partnership and more like a hostile takeover. Or perhaps a shotgun wedding.

Whatever you call it, the plan – part of an effort to reorganize, if not revolutionize, higher education statewide – feels like a foregone conclusion.

It arrived last week, floating on promises of more money, more jobs, more . . . more. And like so many decisions with enormous consequences for Camden, it appears to have been made with little input from people who live or work there.

Is it possible Camden and South Jersey would be better served by linking Rutgers and Rowan in a way that retains their identities? Could the schools gain academic and economic clout in a merger that more resembled a collaboration?

A “consortium,” such as that proposed by the Rutgers-Camden faculty, could combine some programs at the universities, leveraging strengths but maintaining separate operations.

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Rutgers-Camden students mobilize to oppose Christie’s merger plan

January 31, 2012

By James Osborne, Inquirer Staff Writer

Rutgers-Camden students mobilize to oppose Christie's merger plan

Amid the throngs of students filling the campus center at Rutgers-Camden on Monday, one weaved in and out, slipping a flier into their hands.

It wasn’t advertising a fraternity party or a lecture; it contained instructions on how to oppose Gov. Christie’s plan to take their school out of the Rutgers system and merge it with Rowan University:

Sign an online petition, e-mail government officials, and so on.

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Lawsuits threatened over planned merger between Rowan and Rutgers-Camden

January 30, 2012

EILEEN STILWELL, Courier-Post Staff

A plan to roll Rutgers-Camden and Rowan into a single university under the Rowan banner could produce a barrage of lawsuits from Rutgers faculty, according to a union leader at the Camden campus.

“We are very much outraged by this proposal for many reasons. We think it’s fraudulent for one nonprofit, as in Rutgers, to dispose of its assets to another nonprofit, i.e. Rowan,” said Janet Golden, a professor of history at Rutgers-Camden.

“We also believe it’s illegal because everyone here with tenure is protected. Lots of lawsuits will follow because professors are granted tenure exclusively to Rutgers,” said Golden, a member of the executive committee of the American Association of University Professors-American Federation of Teachers.

Christie plan for university reshuffling means another chapter for Rowan

January 30, 2012

GLASSBORO — Twenty years ago, Rowan University’s reputation was synonymous with its teachers college, which prepared hundreds of elementary and special education instructors for South Jersey classrooms each year.

Tony Kurdzuk/The Star-LedgerThe Cooper Medical School of Rowan University is currently under construction in Camden. The building will house the first new medical school on the state in 30 years.

Back then, the school in Glassboro was known as Glassboro State College, and students looking for a bustling college town with a robust nightlife or a research institution with endless courses of study had to look elsewhere.

The run-down Gloucester County college town, once buoyed by a glass-manufacturing industry, was surrounded by peach orchards and featured two pizza joints, one bar and a lot of empty storefronts. The closest movie theater was 15 minutes away in Deptford.

Today, Rowan is a school transformed.

A $100 million gift in the early 1990s by engineer and businessman Henry Rowan kick-started a revival of both college and town, and a plan Gov. Chris Christie unveiled last week to dramatically change the state’s university system means another restructuring is on the way.

Christie’s plan calls for Rowan to take over the nearby Camden campus of Rutgers University, including its law and business schools. The plan also allows Rowan to maintain control of its new medical school, which is set to open in September.
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Not everyone is convinced about the benefits of the restructuring plan. Rutgers-Camden’s faculty union released a statement condemning the plan to strip the campus of its Rutgers title.

The union instead called on legislators to endorse a “consortium model” that would allow Rutgers Camden and Rowan to share some services while maintaining their distinction.

“The loss of the Rutgers brand name for South Jersey, and the unnecessary costs of merger, would do more harm than good,” said Patrick Nowlan, executive director of the Rutgers AAUP-AFT.

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Obama to colleges: Stop increasing tuition prices

January 29, 2012

By The Associated Press

Bill Pugliano/Getty Images U.S. President Barack Obama speaks to students at the University of Michigan January 27, 2012 in Ann Arbor, Michigan. Obama spoke about college affordability to the crowd of more than 3,000 students, saying that he is pressuring Congress for new initiatives.

ANN ARBOR, Mich. — President Barack Obama fired a warning at the nation’s colleges and universities Friday, threatening to strip their federal aid if they “jack up tuition” every year and to give the money instead to schools showing restraint and value.

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Don’t merge Rutgers-Camden, Rowan University

January 27, 2012

Margaret Marsh, a graduate of Rutgers-Camden, is University Professor of History at Rutgers. She served as Dean and later Executive Dean of Arts and Sciences at Camden for more than a decade, and as Interim Chancellor for more than two years from 2007 to 2009.

On Wednesday, the University of Medicine and Dentistry Advisory Committee recommended that Rowan University and Rutgers-Camden “unite under the Rowan name.” The goal of such a merger would be “to support Cooper Medical School of Rowan University” and “develop a comprehensive public research university.”

I would like to offer a different view, shaped by my unique privilege of having served as Dean of Arts and Sciences for more than a decade and as interim Chancellor of the Camden campus for more than two years as well as my experience in other institutions of higher education. I should emphasize that as a current faculty member I am not speaking for Rutgers but for myself.

Rutgers-Camden and Rowan are each fine institutions, but they are very different, with distinct identities, providing undergraduate students with diverse choices for achieving a bachelor’s degree. These different options represent a strength of the region, not a weakness.

In my judgment, the best and most cost-effective way to ensure that Southern New Jersey has a strong research university would be to provide greater autonomy to the one that already exists – Rutgers-Camden – and enable it to grow. Rutgers is an international brand name. It would be foolish to abandon it. Retaining the name and adding the resources that autonomy would bring, Rutgers-Camden could easily grow to 12,000 to 15,000 students over the next decade. Rutgers-Camden has made its home in the city since becoming part of Rutgers six decades ago. It anchors the northern part of the city’s downtown, just as Cooper Hospital anchors the Broadway corridor. Imagine what Rutgers-Camden could do for the city, region, and state with 12,000 students.

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Inquirer Editorial: Rowan merger with Rutgers-Camden makes sense

January 27, 2012

The third time could be the charm for the long-debated realignment of New Jersey’s major university, with the added bonus that this time South Jersey will get a chance to compete for top academic honors.

Gov. Christie’s ringing endorsement Wednesday of a plan to have Rowan University take over the Camden campus of Rutgers University — while the University of Medicine and Dentistry merges with Rutgers — could jump-start hopes of making better sense of the state’s sprawling higher-education network.

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Star Ledger Editorial: Investigation of Kean president the best way to settle dispute

January 27, 2012

By Star-Ledger Editorial Board

Patti Sapone/The Star-Ledger. Dawood Farahi, Kean University president

The last thing New Jersey needs is another public official lying about his past. We’ve had our fill of people who should know better than to shade the truth to their advantage, followed by the tepid non-apology when they get caught. It usually begins “Mistakes were made … ”

That’s why it’s disheartening to hear the faculty union charges against Kean University president Dawood Farahi.

Union president James Castiglione says Farahi misrepresented his academic credentials, listing articles he claimed he wrote as a paid consultant that were never published in academic journals, among other things. “He lied on his résumé, and these are egregious violations of academic integrity,” Castiglione said.

The Kean board of trustees has launched an investigation.

These charges don’t come out of thin air. A large segment of the faculty has been highly critical of Farahi and gave him a vote of no confidence in 2010.

Farahi has made some unpopular changes since he took office in 2003.

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Plan to merge Rutgers-Camden and Rowan faces criticism and complaints

January 27, 2012

Written by BARBARA ROTHSCHILD and KEVIN C. SHELLY

FORUMS SET: Rutgers-Camden is to host two forums for discussion of a proposed merger into Rowan University of Glassboro. The hourlong sessions will be held Thursday, Feb. 2, at 12:20 p.m. in the 401 Penn classroom and Monday, Feb. 6, at 5 p.m. in the Multipurpose Room on the main level of the Campus Center.

CAMDEN — Jeremy Abay could have studied law at Penn, Temple or Seton Hall.

New campus buildings, including the Whitney Center, are part of Rowan University's expansion. / AL SCHELL/Courier-Post

Instead, the Haddon Township resident chose Rutgers School of Law in Camden.

“If it was Rowan Law School, I wouldn’t be here,” Abay said Wednesday after Gov. Chris Christie unveiled a plan to merge Rutgers-Camden into Glassboro-based Rowan University.

Advocates say the reorganization will provide more and better educational choices for local students, and will spur economic growth in South Jersey. But students and teachers at both schools reacted with criticism and concern over the creation of a single school called Rowan University.

“They won’t be able to attract the quality of staff they already have,” said Abay, who asserted the Rutgers name carries a cachet that Rowan can’t match.

In Glassboro, Rowan senior Raymond Davidson expressed concern over the school’s potential transformation into a research university.

“I do think research is important, but the quality of education would drop,” said Davidson, 25, a philosophy and religion major from Franklinville. “Graduate students would start teaching classes. Now, we get to study with people who are already experts in their field,” he said.

“Money going to this merger should be going to academic programs. If this is where the state is going with its dwindling funding for higher education, New Jersey has a terrible idea of what education is all about,” Davidson said.

Freshman Matt O’Brien, 18, a marketing major from Mount Laurel, said many students came to Rowan “for a small student population and close interaction with teachers. I don’t think students would appreciate having the school double in size.”

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