Long before plan was public, advocates developed PR strategy to sell merger with Rutgers-Camden
By Colleen O’Dea
A Rowan University-commissioned report on how to win approval for the merger of Rowan and Rutgers-Camden is being pointed to as proof that the plan is a backroom deal by critics of the merger, who called the report a blueprint for propaganda. The report was dated the day after Gov. Chris Christie announced the plan but was commissioned months earlier.
“This secret report shows that the fix was in long before the merger was even presented to the public,” said U.S. Senator Frank Lautenberg (D-NJ), who has openly questioned the motives of Christie and South Jersey Democrats regarding the plan. “It’s sad that a $30,000 report was commissioned by proponents of the merger to advise them on how to avoid the facts and mislead the public.
The report, “Establishing the New Rowan University,” predicts the strong opposition and likely legal challenge from Rutgers-Camden to the proposal it be absorbed by Rowan.
But it optimistically discusses the designation of the “New Rowan University” as a public research university anyway and lays out a communications strategy “To educate the greater southern New Jersey community about the benefits of a Rowan/Rutgers-Camden reorganization and gain acceptance and support of key opinion leaders, who are critical to the overall success of the effort.”
Rowan and Cooper University Hospital, the medical partner of the Cooper Medical School opening at Rowan in August, commissioned the report in the late fall of 2011 to study the proposed merger, analyze it and “propose a course of action,” said Joe Cardona, Rowan’s associate vice president for University Relations. It was done by The Learning Alliance, a University of Pennsylvania-based group providing educational research and leadership support services to college presidents. Cooper and Rowan split the $30,000 cost evenly.
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