By Charles Stile. Columnist.
The higher education task force led by former Gov. Thomas H. Kean was wrapping up its work in late 2010 when it was presented with a startling idea — merge Rowan University with Rutgers University’s Camden campus to create a public-research colossus for South Jersey.
“It came at us 10 days before the report was due,” Kean recalled in an interview. “There was no way we were going to evaluate it and make a proper recommendation.”
Kean’s caution of 18 months ago could serve as a prophecy today.
A sweeping statewide proposal — including the Rutgers-Rowan merger that Kean said he stashed away in “Appendix Q” of his final report precisely “because there was not a cost analysis” — wobbled off the fast-track Thursday as the ruling Democrats balked at blessing an “unvetted” plan.
No one could say with certainty Thursday just what such a root-to-branch overhaul would actually cost. And instead of giving lawmakers comfort, last-minute and impenetrable numbers from the Treasury Department that only a Harvard MBA could decipher added to the confusion and the frustration.
Some demanded that University Hospital in Newark, a focal point of concern among North Jersey legislators, be guaranteed state funding, instead of leaving it vulnerable to the uncertain year-to-year budget horse-trading.
Others wanted assurances that Rutgers students and their families would not be paying higher tuition and fees to cover the costs of absorbing the University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey and its debt.
But the biggest issue was time: Why the rush to get this done before an arbitrary July 1 deadline? Isn’t passing a $32 billion budget and some form of tax relief before the real constitutional deadline — which also happens to be July 1 — time-consuming enough?
“It’s not that a lot of people are saying ‘Let’s not do this,’” said Assemblyman Albert Coutinho, a Newark Democrat. “They are saying, ‘Let’s not do this now because of a lot of unanswered questions.’”
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