With details still scant on proposed restructuring, speculation and rhetoric run high
By Colleen O’Dea, March 19, 2012 in Education
The joint committee chose friendlier territory — Rowan University, which would take control of the Rutgers-Camden campus under the plan — for the 11 a.m. hearing, although students and faculty at Rowan are by no means united in support of the merger.
Its North Jersey hearing on March 6 was held at the University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey in Newark and most of the testimony focused on the part of the proposal that would give three UMDNJ units, including Robert Wood Johnson Medical School, to Rutgers-New Brunswick. That hearing drew a standing-room-only crowd of staff and students, as well as Newark Mayor Cory Booker, the majority of whom were concerned that the changes would hurt UMDNJ and Newark.
Rutgers’ supporters say they can find their way to Glassboro, where the Rowan administration is located, and intend to have a presence at the hearing.
“We have no idea why they chose the site,” said Andrew Shankman, a history professor at Rutgers-Camden. “We will be there to explain what’s happening . . . It’s sometimes hard to talk about a policy when there is no policy.”
More>>
