American Federation of Teachers New Jersey, AFL-CIO

Month: January 2012

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Diane Ravitch Takes On Obama’s Higher Ed Plan

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.…

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

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.…

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

By James Osborne, Inquirer Staff Writer

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

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.…

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Christie plan for university reshuffling means another chapter for Rowan

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.

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.…

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Don’t merge Rutgers-Camden, Rowan University

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.”…

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Inquirer Editorial: Rowan merger with Rutgers-Camden makes sense

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

By Star-Ledger Editorial Board

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.

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

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.…

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RU to become RU? Rowan may absorb Rutgers-Camden

CAMDEN — Gov. Chris Christie unveiled a plan Wednesday to merge Rutgers-Camden into Rowan University, but the proposal didn’t get high marks from everyone involved.

While Rowan officials praised the governor’s announcement, the top administrator at Rutgers University issued a tepid response. And students at both schools criticized the plan.

“The governor has taken the liberty of messing with South Jersey.…

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Hearings sought on higher ed

Reorganization plan faces review
Jim Walsh, Staff Writer
TRENTON — The head of the state Senate’s Higher Education Committee on Thursday said she wants to hold hearings on a proposed reorganization of higher-education institutions across the state.

Sen. Sandra Bolden Cunningham, D-Hudson, said hearings are needed for “a complete understanding of the statewide benefits and implications” of the plan, which was unveiled by Gov.…

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Christie backs overhaul of New Jersey’s university system

By James Osborne, Inquirer Staff Writer

Gov. Christie offered a proposal Wednesday to overhaul the state’s university system, merging schools from Rutgers University and the University of Medicine and Dentistry, and creating a research university in South Jersey.

Rowan University – just 20 years ago a former teachers’ college known as Glassboro State – would take over Rutgers-Camden.…

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Christie Calls for Restructuring of Research Universities

Governor plans to create N.J. Health Sciences University in Newark, merge Rutgers-Camden into Rowan University

By Mark J. Magyar

Governor Christie yesterday outlined a sweeping overhaul of higher education that would create a New Jersey Health Sciences University in Newark to replace UMDNJ, place Newark’s University Hospital under nonprofit management, and fold Rutgers-Camden and its law school into Rowan University to give South Jersey its own research university.…

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Stile: University overhaul includes prize for kingpin

New Jersey’s Uni-Government – Republican Governor Christie’s alliance with Democratic Party power brokers – has run the table in Trenton for the past two years.

It is the source of Christie’s “bipartisan” success. It has also maintained a rare period of detente between the Democratic factions in the northern and southern parts of the state.

That axis of pragmatic power ground out another long-sought byproduct Wednesday, a sweeping plan to restructure New Jersey’s university system, which includes a valuable prize for South Jersey Democratic kingpin George Norcross, whom many consider one of the most powerful, unelected charter members of the Uni-Government.…

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