By Brian Block
A. Trying to Walk Before You Crawl
It will undoubtedly go down as one of the worst policy rollouts in recent Garden State history, likely eclipsing former Gov. Jon Corzine’s announcement that he wanted to privatize the Turnpike.[2] Rutgers, The State University – Camden (“Rutgers”), particularly its School of Law, has suffered considerable damage as a result—a class size over 50% smaller than the year prior, as well as untold reputational damage which may linger for years.[3] It all could easily have been avoided. How? By engaging in thorough research into the legal obstacles to the proposal, undertaken prior to the rollout. Such an analysis would have uncovered the proposal’s numerous existing legal impediments, thus largely eliminating the rather disjointed statewide legal and political skirmish that ensued. Though, perhaps the chaos was inevitable. Only two years prior, Gov. Chris Christie knowingly disregarded an important statutory legal barrier when he improperly used his executive power to alter higher education by abolishing the Commission on Higher Education.[4]
On January 25, 2012, the future of higher education in New Jersey was drastically altered by the release of the University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey Advisory Committee Final Report (“ the Report”).[5] Among other recommendations, the Report called for a merger between Rutgers, The State University – Camden and Rowan University (“Rutgers-Rowan”) in order to improve the quality of higher education offered in southern New Jersey.[6] Upon being made public, there was an immediate outcry from the Rutgers community, which was ostensibly taken by complete surprise by the recommendation.[7] Very quickly, confusion took center stage and the proposed merger found itself in a legal no-man’s land.
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