Andrew Seidman And Jonathan Lai, Inquirer Staff Writers.
Locked in a struggle to reshape Rutgers University, New Jersey Senate President Stephen Sweeney last week declared a de facto three-month cease-fire even as he seemed to issue an ultimatum.
Sweeney on Thursday gave the university’s two governing boards – of trustees and governors – 90 days to act on recommendations laid out in an internal Rutgers report. Failure to do so, he said, would prompt the Assembly to move forward with legislation, already passed by the Senate, that would increase the number of politically appointed members on the board of governors.
If the boards oblige, it would allow Sweeney (D., Gloucester) to claim responsibility for incremental reform despite considerable recalcitrance at Rutgers, while the boards would stave off what they see as another attempt to gain political control.
That could be a starting point for broader reconciliation, some hope.
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