NJ State Lawmakers Unsure Higher Ed Merger Needs Their OK

A legislative panel hearing testimony on a proposal to reorganize New Jersey's higher education system isn't sure the merger plan requires their approval.

A key legal question surrounding the plan to merge parts of Rutgers and Rowan universities and the University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey is who has to approve it.

Gov. Chris Christie would like to accomplish the reorganization by executive order. But members of the Legislature want a vote. Students, professors and administrators are telling New Jersey lawmakers what they think of the plan at the hearing in Glassboro.

Rowan would take over the Camden campus of Rutgers University, including its law school, under the plan. Rutgers would absorb parts of the scandal-tainted UMDNJ, gaining a medical school.

Many at Rutgers-Camden oppose the plan.

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