Reactions to the dissemination of the Rowan plan to take over Rutgers-Camden have been almost as revealing as the document itself.
Choosing his words carefully, no doubt, Christie spokesman Michael Drewniak responded, “If a consultant was hired to consider the upsides, downsides, and feasibility of such a merger, that just seems like good planning.” Quite right, if only such a process had taken place either through the Barer Committee or through the consulting document provided Rowan by The Learning Alliance for Higher Education. Rather, as the LAHE document states very clearly in the second paragraph, the consultants were asked “to develop a work plan identifying the actions and considerations that would prove necessary when, and if, the Advisory Committee recommended the integration of Rowan University and its newly accredited School of Medicine, Rutgers-Camden, and possibly other postsecondary institutions and agencies across South Jersey.” No alternatives to a merger are considered in the plan. In fact, no other institutions of higher learning are named beyond the Cooper Medical School and Rutgers-Camden.
Rowan spokesman Joe Cardona denies the report was secret. Why then did university officials not provide the LAHE report along with the roadmap plan released March 22nd in response to Senator Nellie Pou’s request for internal documents related to the merger at the March 19 hearing before the joint committee on higher education on the Rowan campus? No matter, the Rowan takeover plan is revealed, even if some key details remain to be rooted out.
Thanks to a communication from a colleague, we now have a better window into the motivation behind Rowan’s single-minded support for the Rutgers-Camden takeover. According to the Rowan paper, The Whit for November 2, Houshmand called an all-campus meeting October 25th to confirm that rumors of a proposed merger with Rutgers-Camden were true. After discussing the university’s strained financial situation, the paper reported, Houshmand stated that becoming a research-designated university was necessary for Rowan’s “survival and growth.” Otherwise, he said, “Our current path will lead to disaster.”
Stating the need to recruit more students to relieve financial pressure and more faculty to teach them, Houshmand argued, over a number of objections from the floor, that the best path was through a merger with Rutgers-Camden.
So back to the Governor’s office. Between January, 2011 when the Governor’s Task Force on Higher Education called for further examination of options for supporting medical education in South Jersey and January, when the Barer report was released, no public examination of upsides, downsides, or feasibility for a merger or any other option for South Jersey took place. If that doesn’t suggest “a fix,” as Senator Lautenberg has charged, it’s hard to give it any other name.
Now that the Rowan Administration’s position is clearer, the public has every right to know at what point the Barer Committee adopted the proposal to merge Rutgers-Camden into that university. We need to know who served as the chief agent in securing the Barer Committee’s endorsement. And finally, we need to know at what point proposals for medical education as a whole were made contingent on accepting a merger in South Jersey. The more we know about the proposed merger, the shakier its foundation. Once we have all the facts, it’s hard to imagine it surviving informed scrutiny.
As the news articles revealed more and more information, it became clear that the merger was not a plan to boost Camden and its economy but instead a plan to boost Rowan, financially. Both entities i.e. Cooper and Rowan entered into a venture that is now way over their heads, financially. Cooper by their own admission is operating on slim profit margin that is worsening. Their bond rating is almost equal to junk bonds and their ability to borrow is nonexistent. Rowan has been in financial trouble for years. In 2004. Rowan was named as one of the most leverage colleges in the nation. The answer to their financial woes is Rutgers-Camden and all their assets, their property, their renown faculty, the student body, the business and law schools and their research grants. What happens when Cooper and Rowan mismanage Rutgers assets as they have their own? What happens when the Rutgers brand name is gone and student enrollment drops drastically? What happens when they can no longer offer doctoral degrees and the faculty leaves taking with them their research grants. How do they plan to boost up student enrollment to the 20,000 level as they plan with Rutgers? Who’s next, Stockton? Mr. Cardona has denied that the report was kept secret. Why should anyone believe Mr. Cardona? This past Monday night, on Channel 3, Cardona said that Rowan was not hiding the fact that the new 113 student town houses have a major mold problem. The students who occupied the town houses knew nothing about this potential health risk. The gentleman hired to clean the mold called the station to report the cover up. So, if Rowan is willing to lie about a mold problem they are willing to lie to save their very existence.