The faculties of Rutgers-Camden and Rowan universities are uniting against a purportedly improved proposal to semi-merge their institutions.
The faculty senate at Rowan, a campus where anti-merger sentiment has until now been more muted than at Rutgers-Camden, issued a statement Sunday questioning key elements of the much-discussed legislative compromise.
“While claiming to improve governance structure for Rowan and Rutgers-Camden, the new legislation (specifically the formation of a joint Board of Governors with ‘full authority over all matters concerning the supervision and operations of Rowan University and Rutgers University-Camden’) will instead diminish the autonomy and potential growth of both universities,” Senate President Eric Milou, a professor of mathematics, said in the statement.
On Monday, Rowan’s board of trustees will hold a special meeting to discuss the merger proposals; last week Rutgers’ separate trustee and governor boards jointly declared that their university must be party to Statehouse initiatives to “restructure” higher education in New Jersey. The position emanates from a statement of principles the Rutgers trustees had previously endorsed.
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