Julie Ruth is an associate professor of marketing in the School of Business at Rutgers University in Camden. She teaches and conducts research on brand management and consumer behavior.
The recent Barer Committee report on restructuring medical education in New Jersey includes a proposal to sever Rutgers’ southern campus in Camden and fold it into Rowan University, located twenty miles away in Glassboro. As a faculty member, but as an expert on brand management, I agree with those who think the loss of Rutgers-Camden is a bad idea.
Everyone at Rutgers – and in fact all New Jerseyans – should be concerned that cutting Rutgers-Camden off from and out of Rutgers could have very real, long-term negative consequences for Rutgers, including students, alumni, institutional partners, faculty, staff and others, now and into the future. I do research on how the market responds to brand partnerships and brands that break relationship ties. Some of my recent research shows that the brand that breaks relationship commitments is hurt in “the court of public opinion.”
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