By Charlotte Haines
In the almost two months since Gov. Chris Christie first announced his support of a proposal to merge the Rutgers-Camden campus with Rowan University, more questions than answers have been raised about the impact this merger will have on not just the South Jersey region, but also on the state as a whole.
There have already been numerous articles and opinion pieces written about the pros and cons of this merger, with very few answers coming from Trenton and the other power players involved. My issue with the merger pertains to issues that Sen. Frank Lautenberg, D-N.J., actually raised in a letter to Christie in mid-February.
According to an article in The Courier-Post titled “Lautenberg concerned over school merger plan” on Feb. 23, the senator brought into question what would happen to all of the University facilities in South Jersey besides the Rutgers-Camden campus. The University and the School of Environmental and Biological Sciences (formerly Cook College) run a Cooperative Extension in every county in New Jersey that provides local residents with agriculture resources, 4-H programs and resource management, among other invaluable resources. The University also runs a food innovation program in Bridgeton, the Pine Lands Field Station in New Lisbon, and the University’s Institute for Marine and Coastal Sciences administers the Jacques Cousteau National Estuarine Research Reserve. All of these centers and outreach programs are invaluable resources not just to South Jersey residents, but also to all residents of New Jersey.
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