Save Rutgers: Come Speak Out for Rutgers Camden

Rutgers Camden has a unique role in South Jersey. It is, for many residents down here, the only point of access for our state’s largest and most well regarded university. The Rutgers name, especially in the law and business school community, may be overshadowed in our immediate area by UPenn or Villanova, but across the country the name carries substantial weight. While Rowan is a fine institution (although I went to Temple for undergrad, I partied quite often at the former Glassboro State), but it is not Rutgers, and it is not nationally known. Most people reading this post understand that this merger is more about politics than anything else, just as most big decisions are in New Jersey. But fleshing out that topic is for another day, as this issue is not going anywhere anytime soon.

Today, I just want to let you know how you can get involved to help the students of the past, present, and future at Rutgers Camden. The administration seems to be treading lightly on the issue. In an email that was first sent out to faculty and then later students, outgoing Rutgers President Richard McCormick said this,

The report also, for the first time, proposes creating an expanded research university in southern New Jersey that would integrate the Rutgers-Camden Campus into Rowan University.

Rutgers-Camden is a special place whose faculty and students work together closely within an intimate campus environment. Rutgers-Camden is also an immensely valuable part of a statewide public research university where faculty consistently advance Rutgers’ research mission, connect the university throughout southern New Jersey, and extend our global reputation as a center for innovation and scholarship. Rutgers serves as a vital magnet for the City of Camden and allows southern New Jersey families to obtain Rutgers degrees without relocating or disrupting their lives and careers. The university has invested hundreds of millions of dollars in the Camden Campus – including more than $100 million over the past five years for new academic and student facilities. Rutgers has made a significant commitment to South Jersey, which is part of our pledge to serve the entire state and is intrinsic to our role as The State University of New Jersey.

While it makes important points as to Rutgers’ commitment to the area, it is hardly a rallying cry and a strong show of support for the students and faculty.

An email that later went out from the Chancellor of Rutgers Camden, Wendell Pritchett, was worded a bit aggressively. This should be no surprise considering he is actually stationed in Camden, and not up the turnpike where little would be changing.

Pritchett’s email announced two open public meetings that would be taking place at the Rutgers Camden campus, where students and members of the community can go on the record voicing their concerns and having their questions answered. This is where you come in. The Rutgers Camden community needs a strong showing at these meetings.

  1. Thursday, February 2nd, 12:20PM to 1:20PM, 401 Penn Classroom
  2. Monday, February 6th, 5:00PM to 6:00PM, Campus Center – Multipurpose Room, Main level
  3. (For law students specifically) Monday, January 30th, 12:30PM to 1:30PM, Gordon Theatre

 

Brian McGovern
About Brian McGovern 748 Articles
Brian McGovern wears many hats these days including Voorhees Township GOP Municipal Chairman, South Jersey attorney, and co-owner of the Republican campaign consulting firm Exit 3 Strategies, Inc.

14 Comments

  1. Sounds like someone is just pissed off because he doesn't want his J.D. to say Rowan Law instead of Rutgers Law…

  2. How about someone come to your house and make you change your last name on the birth certificate to his last name ? Does it make alot of sense to you ? I hope not because that is exactly what the governor is trying to support here !!!

  3. This is a bad idea generally but tragic for Rutgers-Camden Law Students who spent the extra money and time to go to a very well regarded law school only to have that prestige taken away.

    Glassboro State University, Rowan or the rumored "South Jersey University" system that will now come into being, is not a horrible idea but it destroys those at RU-C who were getting advanced degrees in Law, Administration, Social Work etc. Rutgers has hard-earned prestige that Rowan could have one day, but doesn't now.

    That much harder for law students to find jobs in an already tough environment.

  4. Geez, you'd think Rutgers Camden Law was Yale or something. It's a third-tier law school, if it's ranked at all. Grads work not across the country, but in South Jersey. Rutgers tried to close it several times. When I went to RUC as an undergrad, law students' unwarranted self-regard never ceased to amaze me. It's a regional, just-OK law school, not shangri-la.

  5. Rutgers Camden Law is a Tier I law school, it is second only to Yale in the percentage of graduates who get prestigious clerkships after graduation, and has a top-10 ranked legal writing program. You probably just didn't get into the law school and are just bitter.

  6. #84 — tied with Hofstra and LSU
    http://grad-schools.usnews.rankingsandreviews.com

    #77 — Hofstra and LSU, beats out Newark a hair
    http://www.top-law-schools.com/rankings.html

    1 student clerked with a Supreme Court justice in the last decade
    http://www.leiterrankings.com/new/2010_SCClerkshi

    Not in top 40 or runnerup for student or faculty
    http://www.leiterrankings.com/students/2010_top40

    I'm not a lawyer. I do know how to look up things, however. So yay me.

  7. Identity ….identity . That is what they're trying to take away from the students at Camden Campus and that is my point of comparison. But trust me, WE R RUTGERS !!!

  8. It's not bad, kooist. It's really good, just not as great as many think it is. It's not a *complete* research institution unto itself, like so many other people seem to think. Put it with Brunswick and sure, it's a great outpost. It offers, like, three doctorate degrees. It's barely a university as a standalone. No sciences to speak of, campus and its planning and funding strung along by New Brunswick since its integration. The place, and maybe you, need to get over themselves.

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