TRENTON, N.J. — Gov. Chris Christie on Wednesday proposed turning a former teacher’s college into New Jersey’s second major public research university in a shake-up of the state’s higher education system that’s intended to raise the standing of Rutgers University and other institutions from “good to great.”
The first-term Republican governor has long been concerned that top high school graduates go elsewhere for college and often stay there rather than staying put in New Jersey, one of the few states where the flagship public university doesn’t contain the state name.
Part of the problem is a shortage of slots for students, and part is the reputation of Rutgers, a school of 58,000 students spread across three campuses.
Under the governor’s plan, fast-growing Rowan University, which 20 years ago was largely a teacher’s college known as Glassboro State College, would take over the Rutgers-Camden campus, including its law school, in suburban Philadelphia.
Rutgers, whose main campuses are 30 miles from New York City, would absorb parts of the scandal-stained University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey, gaining a medical school. The remaining parts of the University of Medicine and Dentistry would be renamed the New Jersey Health Sciences University.
“We cannot compete economically in this state with good but not great institutions at any level,” Christie said at a news conference. “We need to make the steps happen to allow us to go from good to great.”
Officials at Rowan are excited about the idea, but it’s causing consternation at Rutgers-Camden. Rutgers officials at other campuses say they need more time to study the plan.
