In New Jersey, oversight of higher education is up in the air

The days leading to the approval of New Jersey's budget in June were chaotic, with fears of a July 1 government shutdown and rumors about what Republican Gov. Christie planned to do with the Democrats' spending proposal.

On June 29, amid that din, Christie's office released an order to reorganize government - including a mandate to eliminate the Commission on Higher Education, which oversees the state's colleges and universities.

No one seemed to notice. Not the college and university unions that now are outraged. Not the Democrats who sponsored a 2010 law that expanded and strengthened the very same panel.

If they had, they might have made a crucial discovery: The commission, according to the 1994 statute that created it, is expressly exempted from the reorganization law that Christie used to kill it.

The episode is a window into the complexity of state government - and proof that in politics, timing is everything.

Contacted by The Inquirer last week, Christie's office said it was aware of the provision protecting the commission from dissolution. But spokesman Kevin Roberts did not say why he believed the reorganization order was legal or whether the commission would soon cease to exist.

The order was explicit. It said the commission would be abolished in 60 days unless the Assembly and Senate voted to block the measure. If they did nothing, the order said, the dismantling would become law.

The Legislature was headed toward its unofficial summer break, and votes to stop the action were unlikely - especially since, Democrats say, they were unaware that the commission was threatened.

Commission members said they believed their jobs were done. In interviews, they spoke of their tenures in the past tense.

There are strong arguments for dissolving the commission. It never had the teeth it needed, and consolidating its powers under a governor's advisory panel and a first-ever secretary of higher education was recommended by a task force appointed by Christie and chaired by former Republican Gov. Tom Kean.

Even the commission's departing chairman has said the move might improve coordination between the governor's office and the schools.

Christie said the reorganization would eliminate bureaucracy, "streamline" decision-making, and shrink the government. He referred to the new office of the secretary of higher education and how its duties would overlap with the commission's.

"What we do in New Jersey government, all too often, is someone comes up with an idea that they think is a good idea, and instead of getting rid of other things that obviously overlap in terms of jurisdiction, they just add it on," Christie said at a news conference last week. "That's how we get more expensive government, bigger government, and less effective government."

Christie said he had made a similar decision last year when he reassigned the functions of the inspector general and Medicaid inspector general to the comptroller's office.

But dissolving the commission goes against the spirit of a 2009 state investigative report that called the body a necessary buffer against corruption. And it ignores a 2010 law that required the commission to be strengthened.

Christie's decision to get rid of the commission without public input has angered unions and some Democrats.

"I understand [Christie is] a forceful personality and he wants to get his agenda completed," said Assemblyman Patrick Diegnan Jr. (D., Middlesex), chair of the Assembly Education Committee.

"But in terms of long-range plans like higher education, you have to get some consensus," he said.

Among the powers the commission is supposed to have is to plan for any consolidation of institutions - such as the one that could lead to a new regional university.

One of the more extraordinary ideas floated by the Kean task force was creation of a University of South Jersey made up of Rowan University, Rutgers University-Camden, the University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey (UMDNJ) campus in Stratford, and the new medical school associated with Cooper University Hospital.

The commission's authority in this matter, according to the governor's order, would devolve to acting Secretary of Higher Education Rochelle Hendricks, whose May appointment awaits Senate confirmation. She oversees the state's 31 public and 32 independent higher-education institutions and is responsible for pursuing arrangements between institutions.

The Kean task force recommended creation of the cabinet-level position, which would have narrower duties than the commission. Schools would be given more autonomy over their governance and freedom from statewide mandates such as tuition caps, the report said.

But too much autonomy is dangerous, according to a report by the state Office of Investigation. That office called for more oversight of a system that had been plagued by scandal and corruption for decades.

The 2009 report said the Commission on Higher Education had "little or nothing to do with hands-on oversight of the multibillion-dollar system whose name it bears" and recommended strengthening the body.

The Legislature did that in a law signed just before Christie took office. It created the post of secretary of higher education and granted the commission greater powers, such as enforcement of "financial accountability standards" for schools.

The relevance of that task was highlighted last week when Christie faced questions over Rutgers University's big spending on athletics despite severe cuts to academics.

The commission also was assigned, by law, to monitor lobbying by universities and ensure the protection of whistle-blowers. Such provisions were deemed necessary after the indictments of former State Sen. Wayne Bryant, who steered state money to UMDNJ in return for a $35,000 job, and former UMDNJ dean R. Michael Gallagher.

Unions representing employees at colleges and universities say Christie has ignored the law that empowered the commission.

"What we considered to be the practice of democracy seems to be breaking down," Susanna Tardi, a professor at William Paterson University and executive vice president of the American Federation of Teachers in New Jersey, which represents faculty and other staff.

Christie has assembled a panel of advisers to replace the commission - the Governor's Higher Education Council.

Unlike the more diverse commission, which required a faculty representative and OKs from the Senate and Assembly on most appointments, the council's members are chosen by the governor alone.

Christie has selected four business executives and a law professor. The most recent commission, by contrast, included not just representatives from businesses and law firms but also a member of the state's financial-aid authority and leaders of universities and colleges.

"You cannot use a strict corporate mentality to solve university issues," Tardi warned.

She said the commission was needed for oversight - to monitor whether tuition money is used for real estate purchases instead of academic programs, for example.

It is unclear if the commission will survive. Diegnan has vowed to hold a hearing. A spokesman for Senate President Stephen Sweeney (D., Gloucester) said options were being explored.

Christie said he believed he would get his way.

"We are confident that the thoughtful and important government reforms presented in [the reorganization] proposal . . . will be found to be satisfactory by the legislature," Roberts, his spokesman, wrote in an e-mail.