By Charles G. Häberl The Old Queens build on the campus of Rutgers University. (Robert Sciarrino | NJ Advance Media for NJ.com file photo)
As Rutgers becomes increasingly privatized — only 20 percent of funding comes from the state — and adopts a for-profit business model for education, we must continually assess what effects this process is having on the standards of the education we provide. Thus far, it has resulted in administrative bloat, insecure working conditions for our faculty, the cutting of critically needed programs such as foreign languages and literatures, and substandard learning conditions for our students, who are the ones being asked to foot the bill for Rutgers’ corporatization.
This is why faculty and staff who are in contract negotiations, and the students who are affected by our working conditions, have united to “Reclaim Rutgers.” We aim to take back our university from those whose corporate interests threaten Rutgers’ educational standards.
