Credit: Nick Romanenko

Rutgers President Richard L. McCormick

On February 25, lawmakers, college officials, and investigators discussed the results of a two-year probe into New Jersey’s higher education system at an Assembly Higher Education Committee hearing in Trenton.

The report of the New Jersey State Commission of Investigation (SCI), released in October, focused attention on the business practices and governance at New Jersey’s public colleges and universities.

The commission launched its investigation following reports of fraud at the University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey, which led to the oversight by a monitor, the hiring of a new president, and other reforms.

Rutgers President Richard L. McCormick and presidents from four other institutions – New Jersey Institute of Technology, Ramapo College, Rowan University, and the University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey – testified at the hearing.

The president said that the university takes the report very seriously and has already made some SCI–recommended changes in budgeting and accounting as well as in governance procedures, including establishing a hotline for confidential reporting of financial concerns. He said that the university needs to modernize its financial-management system and is willing to work with state officials.

McCormick said that Rutgers concurs with the report on the need for accountability at the highest levels. “Universities like ours answer to many entities, including federal agencies, private donors, external auditors, and dozens of accrediting bodies – not to mention the tens of thousands of students and their families who vote with their feet, and their dollars, every year,” he said.

To read President McCormick’s remarks, click here.

                                                                                       – Carla Cantor