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Rutgers OKs plan to restructure university
Saturday, March 11, 2006
By KELLY HEYBOER
Newhouse News Service

The Rutgers University Board of Governors yesterday approved a historic plan to restructure the state university, ending an eight-month debate that sharply divided the campus.

The overhaul will affect nearly every aspect of undergraduate education on the campuses in New Brunswick and Piscataway. Rutgers will merge its liberal arts colleges into a new School of Arts and Sciences with a new curriculum and a single admissions standard.

The plan also includes a new Douglass Residential College, an optional four-year program for undergraduate women. The all-female program will be a smaller version of Douglass College, the university's historic women's college.

The board's 10-1 vote to approve the restructuring was one of the most important decisions in the university's 240-year history, Rutgers officials said.

"This is a major transformation of our university," said Rutgers President Richard McCormick. "This is about the creation of Rutgers as we want it to be in the 21st century."

David Harris Jr., a veteran Rutgers board member, cast the lone vote against the restructuring plan after nearly four hours of public and closed-door debate in Winants Hall in New Brunswick.
In a dramatic speech in which he pounded the table and quoted Abraham Lincoln, a passionate Harris surprised fellow board members and said the proposed reorganization did not do enough to help minority and low-income students.

"It will be more difficult to be admitted to Rutgers University, it will be more difficult to graduate from Rutgers University, it will be more difficult to find success if you're a woman or a minority here," Harris said.

McCormick and other Rutgers officials denied the new structure would diminish Rutgers' racial diversity, noting that the same number of students will be admitted under the reorganization.
Harris also made a failed bid to save the name Douglass College. He sided with alumnae and students who pleaded with the board to keep Douglass' current name. They argued the term "residential college" failed to honor Douglass' 88-year history and mission to serve commuter and part-time undergraduates in addition to women living on campus.

"Why can't we simply as a gesture of cooperation and good will . . . simply (retain) the words Douglass College?" Harris asked.

Harris' motion was rejected 9-2. Harris and board member George Zoffinger, head of the New Jersey Sports and Exposition Authority, cast the only votes in favor of keeping the name Douglass College.

Other board members said the name Douglass Residential College would be a more accurate description of the new four-year program. The new school will not be a full-fledged college that grants degrees, though it will have all-female dorms and courses focused on women's issues.
The board did not adopt the president's original recommendation to name the new school the Mabel Smith Douglass Residential College. That name was too long and confusing, board members said.

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