Talking Points for Rutgers-Camden Rowan Board of Governors meeting, 1–17, 12 PM, Joint Health Sciences Center, 201 Broadway Ave, Camden, Suite 440

1. In 2014, when this board was created, you hired a CEO without a job description, without a search process, without any kind of open or transparent process at all. The Association of Governing Boards of Colleges and Universities was critical of your operations then, noting that such behavior erodes public trust, and yet you have now appointed another CEO in the exact same way. Explain your decision to members of the public who want answers and a fair accounting of the public’s money.
2. What is the scope of duties for the CEO of this board? The compensation is a quarter of a million dollars — and for Commissioner Nash, a very cushy pension bump up. It looks like you meet eight times a year with meetings that average about 20 minutes in length. Rounding up, that’s about 4 hours a year or $68,750 per hour. According to the 2021 US Census, the average per capita income in Camden was $17,171.
3. Among the powers of this board is the power of eminent domain. How often and what instances have you seized property from private citizens?
4. On a related note, your new CEO is a member of the county government which controls the Camden County Metro Police. How would respond to those who see this as a troubling joining of powers — power over the police and power of eminent domain?
5. What are your long range facilities plans mentioned in Resolution 2022–10–04?
6. What are your capital improvement plans mentioned in Resolution 2022–10–05?
7. Who is your ethics liaison officer mentioned in Resolution 2022–01–07?
8. Where can the public see Phase 1 and Phase II of your “environmental investigation series?”
9. How many people does this board employee? Your “salary and wages” section of your expenditures for 2021 (the most recent year available on your website) were $566,500, up from $520,000 the previous year.
10. Your procurement process gives the CEO pretty expansive powers over the awarding of contracts. How often and in what instances has the CEO done the following (quoting from your procurement policy document): “deem it impractical to solicit competitive quotations or, having sought quotations, determines that an award should not be made on that basis, the Chief Executive Officer shall file a written statement of explanation of the reasons, place the statement on file, and inform the Board through the Chair and the Finance Committee.”
11. The board receives $2.5 million from Rutgers Camden annually, $2.5 million from Rowan annually as well as other state funding and in 2021 had a surplus of $12 million. Why has this board spent zero dollars in real public engagement. You don’t even have a real university linked website, just a word press.
12. Did Kevin Sheehan write the legislation that established this board?
13. What measures, if any, does the board take to communicate their work to the student, staff, faculty, and administrations at RUC and Rowan? Have they executed any information sharing agreements to enable campus-wide emails?
14. Has the board considered its work to be detracting from the two universities that fund it? In other words, have they ever thought to return money from these institutions to pay for needed mental health professionals, maintenance upgrades, or other projects directly related to the needs of the student body?
15. What is the overall goal of the board? How do the goals of the board match any relevant expertise of the current and prior CEOs?
16. What contributions has the board made to any peer-reviewed body of literature? How has the board contributed to scholarship on community well-being, public health, or any other sub-field of peer reviewed work?
17. Does the board plan to host any town hall meetings with faculty at either institution?
18. Is the board willing to join either university’s shared governance structure? For example, is the board willing to be judged by the faculty of each institution, as deans are, and possibly face votes of no confidence?
19. Does the board plan to adhere to the hiring practices that both Rutgers-Camden and Rowan University are legally required to follow as public institutions? Will the board post vacant positions on relevant union boards before allowing the positions to be viewed by the public?
20. Has the board engaged in any scholarship related to best practices for anchor institutions? Has the board recognized any of the peer-reviewed findings about the harms that the Eds and Meds movement has had on vulnerable communities?