Bergen lawmakers want education legislation to include North Jersey college

Legislators from Bergen County say they won’t go along with the governor’s sweeping plan to reorder higher education in other parts of the state unless it includes as much as a half a billion dollars for colleges and universities in North Jersey.

“Our votes matter in North Jersey,” said Sen. Paul Sarlo, D-Wood-Ridge. “This is not just people in New Brunswick or Newark or South Jersey sitting in a room deciding how to divide the pie.”

Governor Christie proposes to break up the University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey, giving Rutgers University a medical school and cancer institute in New Bruns­wick/Piscataway. The plan also calls for Rutgers to cede its Camden campus to Rowan University — a move opposed by many Rutgers students and alumni.

Much of the public debate on the plan has centered on the battle over turf in South Jersey. But on Monday, lawmakers from North Jersey signaled they didn’t want to be left out of the deal making.

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