New Jersey Senate President Stephen Sweeney introduced sweeping legislation Monday to break up the University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey and move most of its assets to Rutgers and create an independent board to govern both Rutgers-Camden and Rowan University.

The legislation, cosponsored by Senators Donald Norcross (D., Camden) and Joseph F. Vitale (D., Middlesex), comes after months of protests and negotiation following Gov. Christie’s announcement in January that he planned to restructure New Jersey’s public universities with the intention of making them more competitive.

Christie, who has said all along that he would not support any compromise on his original plan, which among other things envisaged a merger of Rutgers-Camden into Rowan, issued a statement Monday supporting the legislation, which would preserve Rutgers-Camden as a distinct entity.

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