As my best friend, who has no family connection to Rutgers, but is a big sports fan, says, beat major teams on a consistent basis, and people will go. It is that simple. We all know how crazy the State was in 2006.
Bloomfield College Having Financial Trouble
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I don't think there's any possibility that TCNJ ( a small school) or NJIT (pretty much a STEM school only) could ever be built up into a flagship institution. And doing that would mean that fewer resources would go to Rutgers given how stingy the state legislature is with higher education. We just have to do the best we can with the existing situation, and do everything we can to convince the public that we are the State University of New Jersey.
When I wrote my first law review article, I asked the Associate Dean how I should describe my institutional affiliation. He was quite emphatic that I should say "Rutgers (The State University of New Jersey) School of Law-Camden." But over time I noticed that few of my colleagues did that. And I don't think that the central administration stresses the State University part either. I think every press release from the university should contain a sentence saying "Rutgers is the State University of New Jersey."
One of N.J.’s oldest colleges may shut down. Here’s how things fell apart.
"We took a risk," the college's president said about going public with a plea to save the school.
To quote: "Unlike many other colleges of its size, Bloomfield failed to invest heavily in online degrees, lucrative graduate degree programs, recruiting foreign students or other methods schools have relied on to diversify how they make money."One of N.J.’s oldest colleges may shut down. Here’s how things fell apart.
"We took a risk," the college's president said about going public with a plea to save the school.www.nj.com
The Wall Street Journal did an expose recently on "lucrative graduate degree programs" at schools like Columbia. Those programs don't do their graduates any good; they don't get better jobs, and they end up with a massive amount of debt.
One of the featured students in that article was an excellent media artist\filmmaker from Rutgers, Zack Morrison.
Nicknames for Union County College.
UCLA = Union County's Last Alternative
USC = University of South Cranford
This is irrelevant to the discussion, but I was once a visiting professor at the real UCLA, and an older colleague told me that in the late 1950s, then-Chancellor Franklin Murphy had a very difficult time getting the telephone operators to answer the phone "UCLA." They were used to saying "University of California, Los Angeles," but Murphy, sensibly enough, wanted to establish the identity as UCLA.
Not telling you anything you don't know already but in the late 50's, the institution wasn't even 40 years old yet. Pretty remarkable how far along it has come in only 102 years of existence as a UC campus (though its roots are from late 1800s, as a state normal school).
UCLA is a great school, but it was a big advantage to it to be the only large University of California campus in the high-growth and very desirable Los Angeles area. And it had the further advantage that in the 1950s and early 1960s, the state of California invested a *lot* of money in the University of California system. because the business community realized how important it was to have a great state university. It also helped that California established a master plan that assigned specific roles to the University, the state colleges (now California State University) and the community colleges that protected against destructive competition. It also helped that the University made clear to community college students which courses would and would not transfer for credit soi that everyone knew what the rules were. Of course, none of that could possibly happen in New Jersey!
It's NJ afterall...where transparency goes to die.
So multiple positive factors in its favor and the state and institution capitalized accordingly. I suppose having premier, successful athletic programs during that period starting with multiple national championship hoops teams, of course, as well as football (crosstown rivalry with USC showcased on TV) probably helped with attracting investment and students to further fuel the growth.
Let's put it this way: it didn't hurt.
Did you know that there was a time when Cal (that is, the Berkeley campus) had excellent athletics? See the Wikipedia articles about coaches Andy Smith and Pappy Waldorf in football, and Pete Newell in basketball. Cal's athletic success lasted until the end of the 1950s. The football team has not been to the Rose Bowl since 1959, when Joe Kapp (I'm sure you know of him) was the quarterback. The basketball team last reached the NCAA men'a basketballl finals in, I think, 1960. Jackie Jensen, named the American League's Most Valuable Player in 1958, was an All-American fullback (when fullbacks were important) for Cal in the late 1940s.
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Asbury Park Press
NJCU opens Fort Monmouth campus, makes Oceanport a university town
This is from August. Better than nothing I suppose.
A satellite campus for Kean or Montclair State would be probably just a front for a money laundering scheme. No one would go there.
Us South Jerseyians look at Rowan as like a last resort college...the safety school to end all safety schools. Just a step above community college.
Over the years, I've gotten the sense that Rutgers-Camden is regarded as somewhat the same way. There are still people in South Jersey who believe that Rutgers-Camden is a two-year school, and that hasn't been true for over a half century.
I wish RU would do with its satellite schools what PSU does with theirs: Anyone who finishes their 2nd year with at least a 3.0 GPA at either RU-Camden or RU-Newark is automatically accepted to RU-NB to finish their last 2 years there if they choose to do so.
That's already true for the School of Arts & Sciences. For the School of Engineering, the B average must be in specified subjects.
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As I posted yesterday, Rutgers-Camden student with a B average can transfer to New Brunswick. But that is not a big talking point for the Camden campus. After all, it's also possible to transfer to New Brunswick from Rowan or from a community college. And there are students who, for one reason or another (usually family), want all four years of college in South Jersey. Rutgers-Camden ought to have the advantage over Rowan in getting those students because, after all, it's Rutgers. But the two schools have just about equal admission profiles.
I mentioned one reason above; there's a persistent belief that Rutgers-Camden is only a two-year school. But there are others. Suppose one wants to become an engineer. Rowan has an extensive engineering program. Rutgers-Camden can only offer a two-year pre-engineering program that leads to transferring to New Brunswick. If you want to be an engineer and need to stay in South Jersey, Rowan is a better choice. Or suppose you want to become a school teacher; Rowan has a much more extensive education program.
For whatever reason, Rutgers' central administration does not want to make the investments in the Camden campus that would enable it to out-compete Rowan for students seeking to be in South Jersey for all four years of college. Maybe the biggest reason is that the Camden campus is a 75-minute drive (the Newark campus is only a 40-minute drive) and out of sight is out of mind.
I mentioned one reason above; there's a persistent belief that Rutgers-Camden is only a two-year school. But there are others. Suppose one wants to become an engineer. Rowan has an extensive engineering program. Rutgers-Camden can only offer a two-year pre-engineering program that leads to transferring to New Brunswick. If you want to be an engineer and need to stay in South Jersey, Rowan is a better choice. Or suppose you want to become a school teacher; Rowan has a much more extensive education program.
For whatever reason, Rutgers' central administration does not want to make the investments in the Camden campus that would enable it to out-compete Rowan for students seeking to be in South Jersey for all four years of college. Maybe the biggest reason is that the Camden campus is a 75-minute drive (the Newark campus is only a 40-minute drive) and out of sight is out of mind.
I live here and you barely hear of it. You see a lot more Stevens and St. Peter's, I think they have more kids that live on campus (both are probably a lot more interesting locations for college kids especially Stevens). NJCU is on West Side JC which isn't a bad neighborhood, just more family oriented. I get the impression it's a commuter school. I didn't know of anyone from HS going there, versus the other NJ publics like Montclair, Willy P, Ramapo, Rowan, Stockton and Kean.
@camdenlawprof
It’s the old Jersey City State College rebranded. My impression is that it caters to first generation kids.
I think, and I could be wrong, their “specialty” is something in cyber/national security IT.
Especially in Hudson County I think...perhaps also Newark. There's very little on campus housing and unless you're near the light rail, getting there is a pain. In normal traffic it'd be a 20 min car ride from me on the other side of town, even though it's only a few miles away.
Former RU footballer Shawn Tucker has been their AD (D3 athletics program) for the past couple years now too.
Interesting provinciaility dynamics for such a small state. Almost nowhere in southern NJ is more than 1.5 hours from NB. It's not realistically commutable, of course, for those 1+ hour away but it's still close in the grand scheme of things. NJ is not nearly the size of Texas, or Florida, or even Virginia.
It's good for the state that Rowan established an engineering program about 25 years ago. If RU loses a few students to Rowan so be it, even if we agree the folks in NB missed the opportunity to invest in engineering facilities/infrastructure in Camden.
I don't believe UVA (central Virginia) and VPI&SU (southwestern Virginia) are too worried if they lose a few northern VA students to George Mason and its engineering school that's only been around since the 80s. Most of the ones seeking a more prestigious degree will look to go to Charlottesville (1.5-2 hrs) or Blacksburg (3.5-4 hrs).
The difference is that UVA doesn't have a campus in Northern Virginia the way Rutgers has one in southern New Jersey. I see no reason why Rutgers wants to lose potential tuition revenue to Rowan by not having adequate programs in Camden to attract students. But again, it's out of sight, out of mind.
As far as I know, construction still hasn’t begun on the new Business School building either.
www.nj.com
One Rutgers campus is not feeling ‘beloved’ | Opinion
What is happening at the Camden campus? Why are students, staff, and faculty not getting equitable treatment?
I commented on that some time back. It's going to be a while before construction starts due to financial issues.As far as I know, construction still hasn’t begun on the new Business School building either.
One Rutgers campus is not feeling ‘beloved’ | Opinion
What is happening at the Camden campus? Why are students, staff, and faculty not getting equitable treatment?
BTW, contrary to what the author says, I don't think the proportion of Black and Hispanic students is much higher at Rutgers-Camden than at New Brunswick.
The Camden campus has legitimate issues, but this piece doesn't speak to the most important -- that the campus doesn't have the programs it needs to have to establish itself as the premier institution in South Jersey.
Fair point, neither UVA nor VPI has a campus in NoVa so not quite an analogous situation to Rutgers in southern NJ.
There are several public flagship schools that do not necessarily have a full breadth of programs at branch campuses, if they have branch campuses at all (perhaps speaks to separate point entirely about their lack of desire to have established a wider footprint to serve their respective states).
The relative compactness of NJ could be a factor for RU central admin not being as motivated to make the investment, perhaps even a modest concern over cannibalization of students. That said, your point about forsaking potential tuition revenue to another institution has merit and may well have been shortsighted by RU over the years.
Not sure how they define it, campus or satellite, but they do have another Virginia location in Wise, Va.—
www.virginia.edu
Facts & Figures
Yep, that's in far, far, southwestern VA, very rural area in the Appalachian region....essentially the opposite corner of the state than where camden and I were referring to with the prosperous/affluent North(eastern) Vriginia region (densely populated suburbs of DC).Not sure how they define it, campus or satellite, but they do have another Virginia location in Wise, Va.—
Facts & Figures
The history of that literal 'satellite' is that it's a very small campus with a low enrollment around 2,000 students. While not directly comparable to Rutgers-Camden, UVA's decision seems to have been to intentionally keep that a small, liberal arts college with little investment commensurate with a second campus of a flagship university/institution. Perhaps the relatively remote location informs that strategy. From afar, the impression I get is that it's their token favor to the state pols in Richmond.
Rutgers Camden is, at best, a 75-minute drive from New Brunswick.,and it's frequently longer. Faculty and administrators at New Brunswick complain bitterly whenever they have to go to Camden. So cannibalization is a minor issue. In fact, the central administration should want cannibalization because. New Brunswick wants to limit its size. The best way to limit enrollment at New Brunswick without losing tuition is to build enrollments in Newark and Camden. But the only way to build those enrollments is to have a sufficient number of academic programs to attract students.
Perhaps overall cannibalization is not an issue, for typical A&S students, but I suspect not for the engineering program example we started this discussion about. Under the current SoE dean, they have been and are still working to grow that school at NB/Pisc.
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