Associated Press.
TRENTON — A legal analysis of Gov. Chris Christie’s proposed higher education reorganization finds that one of the most vocal opponents — Rutgers University’s Board of Trustees — may be unable to block a merger between the Camden campus and Rowan University.
The document disputes the trustees’ claim of authority over the Camden campus’s land. The 27-page analysis prepared for Cooper Health System and presented to Senate leaders was obtained by The Associated Press on Tuesday.
The memo prepared by DeCotiis, FitzPatrick & Cole of Teaneck challenges the trustees’ contention that they continue to hold title to 1.7 acres of the 31-acre downtown Camden campus. The memo asserts that the Legislature transferred half of the disputed property to the state university in 1950 and later paid $495,000 for the rest.
“We have concluded, based on the public record and documents supplied to us by Rutgers, that the trustees have no factual or legal basis to assert anything more than an advisory role over the future of the Camden campus,” lawyer William Harla wrote. “Between the two Rutgers governing bodies, only the Board of Governors has a formal legal position over the governance of the Camden campus.”
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