New Jersey Association of State Colleges and Universities committed to college opportunity for new jersey citizens

150 West State Street, Trenton, New Jersey 08608                       609-989-1100     609-989-7017 fax                   njascu@njascu.org

Poll Shows Present College System Favored

by Kathleen M. Matteo, Chair

NJASCU

Guiding the finance and governance of a college or university is a complex responsibility. Sometimes boards have to make tough, even unpopular choices.

As a member of the trustee board of Rowan University, I am well aware that our board's accountability extends far beyond the cluster of individuals who attend our open public meetings. We, as a governing board, are accountable not only to current students, parents, alumni and staff but also to tens of thousands of potential and future students, and ultimately to all New Jersey citizens who pay taxes in this state.

Given these sobering responsibilities, it is especially heartening to know that New Jersey voters trust independent, nonpartisan trustee boards to manage new investments of taxpayer funds in these institutions.

How do I know this? In early July, the New Jersey Association of State Colleges and universities sponsored a poll of 800 likely voters, asking them how to best ensure that public colleges and universities are well run and how to best ensure that new monies invested in them are well spent. Here are some of the results:

In summary, by better than a 2-to-1 margin, voters would vest authority for managing new state funds with trustees or presidents, as opposed to state government bodies.

The poll shows that, when it comes to making very important decisions that affect students, no group of individuals is more trusted to deliver on the higher education opportunity promise than individual institutions' nonpartisan governing boards.

Twenty years ago, a state college association was created by law and legislation to increase state colleges' abilities to self-govern. This was a compact of trust envisioned by higher education leaders and elected officials of both parties. Our association has helped keep this trust.

The nine institutions that our association comprises - The College of New Jersey, Kean University, Montclair State University, New Jersey City University, Ramapo College, Richard Stockton College, Rowan University, Thomas Edison State College, and William Paterson University - have made remarkable

progress over 20 years. Despite a number of years of successive budget cuts, amid state fiscal woes, we are now achieving, collectively, the following:

The next governor will have the opportunity to improve the investments that we as a state make in higher education opportunity. Well spent, a new investment in higher education, such as a multibillion-dollar infusion of capital to meet pressing facilities needs, will boost the state economy while ensuring that all qualified students, regardless of family wealth, can have an opportunity to attend a college or university in their home state.

The next governor will also have the ability to strengthen state higher education cooperation. However, he must also take care not to fix that which is unbroken: a bond of trust between voters and those who have been appointed as their surrogates to govern the New Jersey's very fine public colleges and universities.