Rutgers Board of Trustees would be axed under bill proposed by Senate President Sweeney
The Rutgers Board of Trustees would be eliminated under legislation proposed by Senate President Steve Sweeney. In this file photo, the trustees meet with the Rutgers Board of Governors in New Brunswick last year.
By Star-Ledger Staff
By Kelly Heyboer and Matt Friedman/ The Star-Ledger
TRENTON — State Senate President Stephen Sweeney has proposed legislation that would eliminate the Rutgers Board of Trustees and transfer its powers to the university's board of governors.
If passed by the state Legislature and signed by Gov. Chris Christie, the bill would mean the end of the nearly 250-year-old Rutgers Board of Trustees and the university's unusual multiple-governing-board system.
"The problem is you have two boards that at times are not in sync with each other, that at times don't work with each other. Because it's been there all that time, and this is how we've always done it, doesn't mean it's always right," Sweeney said. "It's 2013. It's time to move on."
The bill (S2902) was introduced last week, though the full text of the legislation is not yet available, legislative officials said. Sweeney (D-Gloucester) said he is speaking with legislative leaders in the Assembly and did not know when the Senate would consider the bill.
Rutgers officials said they will fight any changes to the university's governance structure.
"While the bill text does not yet exist, Rutgers will vigorously oppose any legislation that violates the legislative contract established in the 1956 Rutgers Act, under which any change in the governance of the university requires the consent of the Board of Governors and the Board of Trustees," said E.J. Miranda, a Rutgers spokesman.
"The Rutgers University Board of Trustees is one of the oldest governing bodies in higher education in the nation. Indeed, it predates the nation itself. Moving precipitously to alter the legislation that created the board structure is unwarranted," Miranda added.
Under the current arrangement, the 11-member Rutgers Board of Governors holds most of the power to oversee the state university. Its duties include setting tuition, appointing the Rutgers president and approving the school's budget. The board is due to expand to 15 members next week.
The 59-member Rutgers Board of Trustees, which dates to the school's founding in 1766, serves mostly as an advisory body. But the board has the power to decide the fate of certain assets the formerly-private university owned before Rutgers became a state university in 1956. The trustees also elect five members of the Rutgers Board of Governors.
The trustees flexed their muscles — and clashed with Sweeney — last year when a proposed higher education restructuring plan threatened to merge the Rutgers-Camden campus with Rowan University in Glassboro. Many of the trustees objected to losing the Camden campus and promised to vote to derail any merger.
The restructuring plan was eventually rewritten to leave the Camden campus as part of Rutgers. The trustees voted last fall to proceed with the restructuring, which goes into effect Monday. It will include Rutgers' takeover of nearly all of the schools at the University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey.
Sweeney said the bill is not an effort to get back at the trustees for threatening to derail the merger, which he supported.
"I'm not that vindictive, believe me," Sweeney said.
Sweeney also said the bill is not aimed at Rutgers President Robert Barchi, who has had a difficult first year in office as the university dealt with the UMDNJ merger and several sports-related controversies.
However, Sweeney said a single governing board will help hold the Rutgers president accountable.
"Once you only have one board to deal with, there's no excuses," Sweeney said. "This dual board doesn't make any sense at all. And when you look around the country, most universities are not governed this way."
• Rutgers boards approve historic UMDNJ merger
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