Rutgers board conditionally approves merger plan

Rutgers University’s main governing board has called a meeting Thursday to discuss a higher education plan to be voted on in Trenton later in the day.

The meeting is presumably to get the Board of Governors to approve the ambitious plan to merge the Camden campus with Rowan University and give Rutgers a medical school.

Update, 1:30 p.m. The Rutgers board voted 9-1 to approve the plan on the condition that it keeps full control of its Camden campus. The new board would only oversee the two universities’ joint health and science ventures.

Legislative researchers say the plan can’t be implemented without the board’s approval.

 

The meeting follows a frantic day of meetings and conference calls among board members, and representatives of Democratic power broker George Norcross III and Gov. Chris Christie. Christie and Norcross are major proponents of the plan.

The Rutgers trustees have threatened to sue if the legislation passes as is because they say it diminishes their authority over the Camden and Newark campuses.