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In this 2013 file photo, the Rutgers University Board of Governors meets in New Brunswick. The state Senate Higher Education Committee met today to consider a bill that would expand the board from 15 to 19 members by adding additional political appointees.

(Ed Murray/The Star-Ledger)



TRENTON — Rutgers lost the opening battle today in its bid to keep state lawmakers from adding more political appointees to its board of governors.

A state Senate committee advanced a bill to expand the Rutgers board of governors despite the strong objections of university officials and the threat of a lawsuit. The Senate Higher Education Committee voted 3-2 to approve the legislation proposed by state Senate President Stephen Sweeney.

The bill calls for expanding the Rutgers board of governors from 15 to 19 members by adding four new political appointees. Campus critics say the change will bring more political influence to the state university's powerful board, which sets tuition and controls the school's nearly $4 billion budget.

Sweeney, who sat in on the hearing, said the larger board would help the 65,000-student state university run better. The four new seats would all be filled by board members with medical backgrounds to add expertise after Rutgers added several health science schools when it took over most of the former University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey last year.

Sweeney (D-Gloucester) also cited several recent sports-related scandals at Rutgers as evidence the school needs a better governance system.

"The status quo is not acceptable," Sweeney told the committee.

But several Rutgers officials, including the head of the university's trustees, testified expanding the board of governors is unnecessary and could be harmful.

Under the current system, eight members of the Rutgers board of governors are appointed by the governor and seven are chosen by the Rutgers trustees, a separate board made up mostly of alumni.



"The balance between political and trustee appointments must be maintained," said Dorothy Cantor, chairwoman of the Rutgers board of trustees.

Under Sweeney's bill (S-1860), 12 board of governors members would be appointed by lawmakers — 10 chosen by the governor and one each selected by the state Senate president and the Assembly speaker. The Rutgers trustees would still chose seven board members.

Speaker Vincent Prieto (D-Hudson) has proposed a similar bill in the Assembly.

Rutgers trustees are considering taking legal action if the legislation becomes law. They argue any changes to Rutgers' governance structure without the trustees' consent would violate the 1956 state law that made the once-private Rutgers the state university.



"How is this at all constitutional?" Senate Minority Leader Tom Kean Jr. (R-Union) asked Sweeney during the hearing. Kean eventually voted against the bill in a vote split along party lines.

Sweeney said he is willing to take his chances in court if Rutgers sues the state.

"When you go to court sometimes you win, sometimes you lose," Sweeney said. "We'll see what happens in court."

Rutgers is the only public four-year university in New Jersey where alumni appoint a portion of the governing board. Sweeney argued many other large universities, including Penn State and the University of California, have boards with 19 or more members.

Several Rutgers professors and union officials joined campus board members in testifying against Sweeney's bill. Some questioned why lawmakers would add more politically-appointed members to the Rutgers board at a time when state funding of the school has dropped to 21 percent of the university's total budget.

"With state funding for Rutgers at such low levels . . . one has to feel there should be less (political) appointees, not more," said Patrick Gardner, a Rutgers professor and the university's director of choral activities.

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