The U.S. Education Department is looking into allegations by a U.S. senator from New Jersey that the proposed merger of Rowan University and Rutgers University at Camden was crafted "to benefit powerful political interests without regard for the impact on students, the academic institutions themselves, and the community."
In a letter sent to Secretary of Education Arne Duncan last week, Sen. Frank Lautenberg, a Democrat, repeats allegations, made by opponents of the merger, that the proposal was being "pushed forward" by Gov. Christopher J. Christie and other elected officials in New Jersey to improve Rowan's credit rating and "salvage Rowan University's partnership with Cooper Health System to create a medical school at Rowan."
