Kean says the state needs to appoint a cabinet-level officer dedicated to higher education
Former Gov. Tom Kean, chairman of Gov. Chris Christie's higher education task force, appears in this February file photo.TRENTON — Tom Kean, the former governor and Drew University president, was back in Trenton today to take legislators' questions on how to implement more than 70 proposals to revamp New Jersey's system of public colleges and universities.
Kean, who ran Drew from 1990 to 2005 and now chairs Gov. Chris Christie's higher education task force, said that first and foremost the state needs to appoint a cabinet-level officer dedicated to higher education.
"We have not had since the chancellor was abolished any real advocate for higher education in state government," Kean said. "When appropriations and everything else have been talked about around the table, higher education has had no voice."
Once that position is filled, the rest of the task force's recommendations — such as transplanting the UMDNJ medical and public health schools into Rutgers University and getting rid of caps on tuition increases — would be helped along by the secretary of higher education, a post that was abolished in the '90s by former Gov. Christie Whitman.
Kean testified along with the president of Rutgers, Richard McCormick, and the president of Montclair State, Susan Cole. The trio said they hoped voters will be able to vote next year by referendum on whether the state can borrow money to invest in higher education.
"We have great colleges and universities but they're starting to look a little shabby, because the last bond issue was in 1988," Kean said. "That's enormously important."
"I know the tremendous problems you have right now with this budget," he said. But New Jersey is 47th among the states in higher-education spending, and failing to invest in colleges and universities could have a devastating impact on the state's economy down the road, he said.
Senators said they hoped to make more headway with the group's proposals, many of which will require legislation. But Democrats said Christie had not been responsive to their efforts so far.
"He's had 10 months to fill the secretary position," said Sen. Paul Sarlo (D-Bergen), the chair of the budget committee.
Meanwhile, how to fund the wide-ranging changes being proposed by the task force still remained an open question.
"There are no details, no specifics," he said, referring to the plan to borrow more money for higher education. "You can't do that overnight."
Editor's note: An earlier version of this story mistakenly identified members of the higher education task force.