Don’t merge Rutgers-Camden, Rowan University

By Margaret Marsh

On Wednesday, the University of Medicine and Dentistry Advisory Committee recommended that Rowan University and Rutgers-Camden “unite under the Rowan name.” The goal of such a merger would be “to support Cooper Medical School of Rowan University” and “develop a comprehensive public research university.”

I would like to offer a different view, shaped by my unique privilege of having served as Dean of Arts and Sciences for more than a decade and as interim Chancellor of the Camden campus for more than two years as well as my experience in other institutions of higher education. I should emphasize that as a current faculty member I am not speaking for Rutgers but for myself.

Rutgers-Camden and Rowan are each fine institutions, but they are very different, with distinct identities, providing undergraduate students with diverse choices for achieving a bachelor’s degree. These different options represent a strength of the region, not a weakness.

In my judgment, the best and most cost-effective way to ensure that Southern New Jersey has a strong research university would be to provide greater autonomy to the one that already exists – Rutgers-Camden – and enable it to grow. Rutgers is an international brand name. It would be foolish to abandon it. Retaining the name and adding the resources that autonomy would bring, Rutgers-Camden could easily grow to 12,000 to 15,000 students over the next decade. Rutgers-Camden has made its home in the city since becoming part of Rutgers six decades ago. It anchors the northern part of the city’s downtown, just as Cooper Hospital anchors the Broadway corridor. Imagine what Rutgers-Camden could do for the city, region, and state with 12,000 students.
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