Commission on Higher Education Abolished by Governor Christie

The Commission on Higher Education has been abolished and it became official in January 2012 with a name change and statement on the old Commission website. Governor Christie issued a “Reorganization Plan” on June 29, 2011, calling for the abolition of the Commission and the transfer of all its powers to a single office: the Secretary of Higher Education. Only the Legislature could have prevented this action, by apparently no effort was made to do so.

The Governor claims the elimination of the CHE will make State oversight of higher education more effective. He claims it will streamline decision making and lower administrative costs. In reality, this is a power grab. The Commission consisted of 17 members that included a faculty and student representative, which allowed for the expression of dissenting voices and the semblance of a deliberative process. Its meetings were open to the public and the Council routinely sent a representative who often spoke on agenda items. The reorganization, in contrast, concentrates the authority of the Commission in the hands of a single person directly beholden to the Governor.

The Secretary of Higher Education is a cabinet-level position and is the primary advisor to the Governor on matters of higher education, charged with making recommendations to the Governor and Legislature. The position is currently held, on an “acting” basis, by Rochelle Hendricks, former acting commissioner of New Jersey’s Department of Education. She began her career as a public school teacher and subsequently worked as administrator at Princeton University before joining the Department of Education in 1987.

The Governor’s action effectively eviscerates Public Law 2009 Chapter 308, aka the “Lesniak Bill - S1609” we fought so hard to pass in 2009, which strengthened the oversight authority of the Commission and implemented many of the recommendations of the October 2007 Report of the State Commission of Investigation entitled “Vulnerable to Abuse: The Importance of Restoring Accountability, Transparency and Oversight to Public Higher Education Governance.” Unfortunately, openness and transparency have taken a backseat closed door bureaucracy under Governor Christie.