Month: June 2012

By Angela Delli Santi, Associated Press.

TRENTON — Proponents of an ambitious plan to restructure higher education in New Jersey are scrambling to get the measure through both houses of the Legislature and to the governor’s desk by week’s end.

The bill creates a quasi-merger between Rowan University and Rutgers’ Camden campus, and dissolves the University of Medicine and Dentistry, transferring most of it to Rutgers.…

By Matt Katz, Inquirer Trenton Bureau.

TRENTON – On a day so busy that the Statehouse cafeteria stayed open an extra three hours for hungry lobbyists who were monitoring dozens of bills, Democrats scampered in and out of meetings to try to put together a $31.7 billion budget to send to Gov. Christie.

Turns out, they also needed to put out a fire that began Thursday and lasted well into Friday afternoon.…

By Star-Ledger Editorial Board.

The state Senate plans to vote tomorrow on its schizophrenic reconstruction of Rutgers University. It’s a wobbly train moving way too fast. It’s time, finally, to slam on the brakes.

The core of this plan makes great sense. Allowing Rutgers to absorb the University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey strengthens the state university.…

The shift by two party members makes it almost certain that the N.J. bill will pass.

By Angela Delli Santi, Associated Press.

TRENTON – A far-reaching plan to overhaul New Jersey’s higher education system will be heard in the Assembly next week, as a faction of Democrats trying to delay the fast-moving legislation fractured Friday.

The Assembly Budget Committee will hear the bill Monday, along with a companion measure that would ask voters to approve $750 million in borrowing for higher education.…

By Jarrett Renshaw/Statehouse Bureau.

TRENTON — The Assembly Budget Committee will consider the sweeping and controversial overhaul of the state’s colleges and medical schools on Monday, setting the state for a potential showdown between leadership and a gang of nine Democrats who are seeking to put the breaks on the measure.

Dubbed the “Cryan Nine,” the bloc of Assembly Democrats wrote a letter to Speaker Sheila Oliver (D-Essex) Thursday advising her that they will withhold their support of the party’s budget proposal unless the reorganization plan is shelved until later in the year.…

By Matt Katzand James Osborne, Inquirer Trenton Bureau.

TRENTON – The state’s proposed $32 billion budget got caught up in anxieties over the overhaul of New Jersey’s universities Thursday, as a group of Democratic lawmakers threatened to buck their party unless adoption of the university plan was postponed.

Nine Democrats, led by former Assembly Majority Leader Joseph Cryan of Union County, told their leaders they wanted to vote on the reorganization of the state’s higher education system in the fall instead of next week.…

By Charles Stile. Columnist.

The higher education task force led by former Gov. Thomas H. Kean was wrapping up its work in late 2010 when it was presented with a startling idea — merge Rowan University with Rutgers University’s Camden campus to create a public-research colossus for South Jersey.

“It came at us 10 days before the report was due,” Kean recalled in an interview.…