The proposal to restructure the state’s public research universities that was tabled three years ago is receiving new attention from a legislative task force established earlier this fall.

The 10-member Task Force on Higher Education, appointed by the state Legislature, is exploring how best to structure Rutgers, the University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey, and the New Jersey Institute of Technology (NJIT) so that they can conduct world-class research, generate scientific and technical innovations, spur investments, and attract new jobs and companies to the state.  

During his testimony at the panel’s first hearing November 9 in Trenton, Rutgers President Richard L. McCormick said that the goals for structuring the research universities of New Jersey “are just as sound now as they were before.” (Click here for McCormick's testimony.)

McCormick said that benefits could flow from a new structure if adequate and stable funding is provided and if safeguards are put into place that would hold the institutions strictly accountable for the expenditure of resources.

McCormick said he believes Rutgers has maintained its strength and academic integrity in part because of its independent governance structure. “A paramount emphasis on academic excellence means having governance structures that reflect the educational missions of a university,” McCormick said. ”Institutional governance makes a real difference to quality.”

Also providing testimony were Bruce Vladeck, president of UMDNJ, and Robert A. Altenkirch, president of NJIT. (Click here for Vladeck's testimony and here for Altenkirch's testimony.)

P. Roy Vagelos, retired chair and CEO of Merck, also testified at the hearing. Vagelos, tapped by former Gov. James E. McGreevey to study the state’s higher education system, led a commission that recommended the creation of three comprehensive research universities in Camden, Newark, and New Brunswick. The $1.3 billion proposal, which called for a chancellor and a board of regents, was abandoned in 2003.

The task force is expected to report its recommendations within nine months of the initial meeting.

Links to past Focus articles

Restructuring off the table, December 15, 2003

Committees weigh in on restructuring, November 3, 2003 (includes campus committee reports)