RU, UMDNJ merger back on the table
Lev D. Zilbermints
Issue date: 10/3/06 Section: News
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After two years of obscurity, the idea of merging Rutgers, New Jersey Institute of Technology and the University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey into the University of New Jersey has found new support. Gov. Jon Corzine, Senate President Richard Codey and Assembly Speaker Joseph J. Roberts Jr. all support the idea of a merger.
Rutgers University President Richard McCormick also endorsed the merger.
In his annual address to the university community on Sept. 18, McCormick said that while "the revelations of the past year [at UMDNJ] have hurt everyone in the state," Rutgers and UMDNJ should merge.
According to McCormick, even though the Cancer Institute of New Jersey is part of UMDNJ, 45 percent of its faculty comes from Rutgers. The Stem Cell Institute of New Jersey is also jointly managed by Rutgers and UMDNJ. McCormick also cited other fields in which the two schools collaborate effectively.
"Could it be better if, somehow, these research universities were combined? And specifically, would it be better if the Robert Wood Johnson Medical Center was part of Rutgers? You bet it would," McCormick said.
The idea of a merger was first proposed by former Gov. James E. McGreevey in 2002. As envisioned in a report written by P. Roy Vagelos, a former member of the Rutgers board of governors, the merger would have united Rutgers, NJIT, and UMDNJ into one super-university called the University of New Jersey.
There would have been three campuses -- one in Newark, one in New Brunswick, one in Camden -- with a combined total of over 65,000 students.
Each campus would be semi-autonomous and have a medical and engineering school. All three campuses would have their own president, who would have been responsible to a chancellor and a board of regents based in Trenton.
On August 22, Codey and Roberts announced the formation of a Legislative Task Force on Higher Education and the Economy.
According to Jennifer Sciortino, press secretary to Senate President Richard Codey, "the point of the task force that was just created is to study many of these aspects, i.e., how the merger would work, costs, time line, benefits, etc."
Rutgers University President Richard McCormick also endorsed the merger.
In his annual address to the university community on Sept. 18, McCormick said that while "the revelations of the past year [at UMDNJ] have hurt everyone in the state," Rutgers and UMDNJ should merge.
According to McCormick, even though the Cancer Institute of New Jersey is part of UMDNJ, 45 percent of its faculty comes from Rutgers. The Stem Cell Institute of New Jersey is also jointly managed by Rutgers and UMDNJ. McCormick also cited other fields in which the two schools collaborate effectively.
"Could it be better if, somehow, these research universities were combined? And specifically, would it be better if the Robert Wood Johnson Medical Center was part of Rutgers? You bet it would," McCormick said.
The idea of a merger was first proposed by former Gov. James E. McGreevey in 2002. As envisioned in a report written by P. Roy Vagelos, a former member of the Rutgers board of governors, the merger would have united Rutgers, NJIT, and UMDNJ into one super-university called the University of New Jersey.
There would have been three campuses -- one in Newark, one in New Brunswick, one in Camden -- with a combined total of over 65,000 students.
Each campus would be semi-autonomous and have a medical and engineering school. All three campuses would have their own president, who would have been responsible to a chancellor and a board of regents based in Trenton.
On August 22, Codey and Roberts announced the formation of a Legislative Task Force on Higher Education and the Economy.
According to Jennifer Sciortino, press secretary to Senate President Richard Codey, "the point of the task force that was just created is to study many of these aspects, i.e., how the merger would work, costs, time line, benefits, etc."
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