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BERGEN RECORD OP ED
September 4, 2006
President Peter P. Mercer
Ramapo College of New Jersey
MEETING THE CHALLENGE OF PUBLIC HIGHER EDUCATION AT RAMAPO COLLEGE
On September 4, Labor Day, the 820 members of the freshman class of Ramapo College of New Jersey will walk in single file up the hill from the Bill Bradley Sports and Recreation Center. As they pass through the arch which is the symbol of the College, I will have the privilege of welcoming each one. It is a wonderful ritual and one repeated in reverse on graduation day when those same students will walk down the hill, again passing through the arch, but in their graduation regalia with all the faculty and staff lining the walkway and applauding their accomplishments.
Ramapo is designated as New Jersey's Public Liberal Arts College. Why would the State of New Jersey do so? Shouldn't the state be interested in practical education?
In reality, no education is more practical than a liberal education, meaning simply, education that develops or liberates the powers of the intellect. The ability to reason, to analyze problems imaginatively and to communicate intelligently is indispensable in a world where adaptation to constant change is necessary. The economic evidence is also irrefutable: those whose education has provided them with the ability to think critically and communicate effectively will earn the highest incomes. As the economist Anthony Carnevale has stated, "in the knowledge economy, education allocates earnings; work alone is not enough". Gone forever are the days of earning high pay by working hard at an assembly line job right out of high school.
My students know this and their parents know it. Equally important, the rest of the world knows it. Consider for example, the rapidly growing economies of Brazil, Russia, India and China (the BRICs). All four countries are dramatically increasing investment in public higher education as a vital component of their economic strategy. The implications of that strategy were considered by a team of economists and planners at Goldman Sachs in a 2003 study called "Dreaming with BRICs: The Path to 2050". The top G6 world economies today are the United States, Japan, Germany, Britain, France and Italy. The study concludes that in less than 40 years, the G6 combined economies will be smaller than the BRICs economies taken together.
When it comes to public investment, New Jersey's legislators and Governor Corzine are in a difficult bind. The state deficit, in the billions of dollars, is real and there can be no easy fix. Indeed there is in such difficult times a particular need to root decisions in sound public policy that goes beyond the expedient. Otherwise, over time, the larger issues become decided virtually by default.
When I look at the experience of Ramapo College, I fear this may be happening with public higher education. Twelve years ago, the state of New Jersey provided 54% of Ramapo College's operating revenue. That number has fallen each successive year until it now stands at 30%. The implications if this trend continues are clear. Furthermore, Ramapo College has funded its conversion from a commuter school to a residential one without capital support from the state. Consequently, and the situation would be worse without the generous support of our benefactors, almost 13% of the College operating budget goes to service debt incurred to build student facilities.
Our students and their families have to this point shouldered most of the offloaded burden. This year tuition was increased by 8%, the maximum allowed by the state. For the most part they have been willing to do so in order to preserve the quality of their education. And the quality is acknowledged to be high. The just-released 2007 edition of U.S. News and World Report's survey of America's Best Colleges again ranks Ramapo College as the top public comprehensive college in the northern United States. Even when the independent colleges, with vastly more resources, are added to the mix, Ramapo stands at number eight. We have done well with the resources we have.
But even with the 8% tuition increase and a higher intake of freshmen, Ramapo College has this year cut more than $3 million dollars from the operating budget. Starting the budget planning exercise many months ago, before the state fiscal crisis became clear, meant that we were able to make the cuts partly through attrition. Nevertheless, virtually every area of discretionary spending has been reduced. We have been able to stick to our priority of adding five additional full-time faculty; however, our full-time faculty numbers remain proportionately well below those of the other state colleges.
Replenishing our excellent faculty and facilities will be essential to our ability to deliver the teaching and research that characterize a first class education in the global knowledge economy. It is something to which our Trustees, administration, faculty and staff are all committed to at Ramapo College. Isn't that what we all want for the citizens of New Jersey?
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Other Articles
- President Peter Philip Mercer, Bergen Record OP ED , Meeting The Challenge Of Public Higher Education At Ramapo College
(September 4, 2006) (PDF) (DOC)
- President Peter Philip Mercer...Forging New Relationships
(Fall 2005) (PDF) (DOC)
- Dr. Peter Philip Mercer Appointed President of Ramapo College of New Jersey
(February 16, 2005) (PDF) (DOC)Download Adobe Acrobat Reader
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Publications
(1) Books and Monographs
Products Liability in Canada (a monograph in the series Products Liability, authored by Rino Stradiotto, Q.C.; second edition prepared and edited by P.P. Mercer) (New York, Oceana, 1988) 115 pages.
An Introduction to Business Associations in Canada (with R.L. Simmonds) (Toronto: Carswell, 1984) 778 pages.
(2) Chapters in Books
"Informal Administrative Action in Canada" in Contemporary Law: Canadian Reports to the 1994 International Congress of Comparative Law (Montreal: Yvon Blais Inc., 1995) pp. 788-803.
"The Law of Mistake", Chapter 10 in C. Boyle and D. Percy eds., Contracts: Cases and Commentaries (Toronto: Carswell, 1994)
5th Edition, 1994, pp. 531-598.
4th Edition, 1989, pp. 495-557.
3rd Edition, 1985, pp. 513-576.
"Group Actions in Civil Procedure in Canada" in Contemporary Law: Canadian Reports to the1990 International Congress of Comparative Law (Montreal: Yvon Blais Inc., 1992) pp. 249-273.
"The Legal Regulation of Broadcasting and Telecommunications in Canada" in T. McPhail and B. McPhail, Mass Communications in Canada (Toronto: Copp Clark Pitman Ltd., 1989) pp. 353-381.
(3) Articles
M.A. Wilkinson, C. Walker and P. Mercer, "Testing Theory and Debunking Stereotypes: Lawyers' Views on the Practice of Law" (forthcoming, 2005 Canadian Journal of Law and Jurisprudence).
M.A. Wilkinson, C. Walker and P.Mercer, "Do Codes of Ethics Actually Shape Legal Practice?" (2000), 45 McGill Law Journal 645-680.
M.A. Wilkinson, T. Strong and P. Mercer, "Mentor, Mercenary or Melding: An Empirical Inquiry into the Role of the Lawyer", (1997), 28(2) Loyola University Chicago Law Journal 226-248.
P. Mercer, M.A. Wilkinson and T. Strong, "The Practice of Ethical Precepts: Dissecting Decision-making by Lawyers" (1996), 9(1) Canadian Journal of Law and Jurisprudence 141-160.
"Issues Facing Boards of Inquiry Concerning Requests for Disclosure of Particulars, Production of Documents and the Reasonable and Bona Fide Requirement, Qualification or Factor Exceptions Under the Human Rights Code of Ontario" (1993), Canadian Bar Association-Ontario Institute of Continuing Legal Education, pp. IV 1-26.
"Workers' Compensation and Sections 7 and 15 of the Charter" (1988), 29 Admin. L.R. 157-160.
"Administrative Regulation and the Right to Pursue the Gaining of a Livelihood: Paragraph 6(2)(b) of the Charter" (1987), 20 Admin. L.R. 131-35.
"Recent Developments in Canadian Law: Administrative Law" (1984), 16 Ottawa L. Rev. 645-684.
"The Citizen's Right to Sue in the Public Interest: The Roman Actio Popularis Revisited" (1983), 21 University of Western Ontario Law Review 89-103.
"Copyright in Musical Works" (1983), 17(3) Canadian Folk Music Bulletin 28-31.
"The Windsor Small Claims Court: An Empirical Study of Plaintiffs and their Attitudes" (with Kai Hildebrandt and Brian McNeely) (1982), 2 Windsor Yearbook of Access to Justice 87-123.
Case and Comment (a general review of the American periodical of the same name) (1981), 5 Canadian Community Law Journal 156-160.
"The Gouriet Case: Public Interest Litigation in Britain and Canada", [1979] Public Law 214-236.
(4) Comments
Domtar Inc. c. Québec (Commission d'appeal en matiére de lésions professionnelles) (1993), 2 R.A.L. 237-239.
Shiell v. Amok Ltd. (1988), 27 Admin. L.R. 2-4.
Black v. Law Society of Alberta (1987), 20 Admin. L.R. 210-214.
Mia v. Medical Services Commission of British Columbia (1986), 15 Admin. L.R. 268-270.
The Queen in Right of Alberta v. County of Beaver No. 9 (1984), 7 Admin. L.R. 120-122.
Dene Nation v. The Queen (1984), 6 Admin. L.R. 269-271.
Wimpy Western Ltd. v. Director of Standards and Approvals of the Department of theEnvironmental et al. (1984), 3 Admin. L.R. 248-251; (1984), 29 Alta. L.R. (2d) 166-169.
Irving Oil Ltd. v. The Queen (1984), 2 Admin. L.R. 54-57.
(5) Book Reviews
The Judiciary in a Democratic Society (Leonard J. Theberge Ed.) (1981), 59 Canadian Bar Review 460-469.
Z.M. Nedjati and J.E. Trice, English and Continental Systems of Administrative Law (1980), 13 University of Western Ontario Law Review 549-552.
RESEARCH STUDIES COMMISSIONED AND PUBLISHED BY GOVERNMENT
Addiction Research Foundation of Ontario
The Law Governing Employment Drug Testing and Employee Assistance Programs (1991) 234 pages.
Law Reform Commission of Canada
Environmental Mediation Study (1990) 151 pages.
The Ontario Motor Vehicle Arbitration Plan: Two Year Review (1989) 97 pages.
The Ontario Motor Vehicle Arbitration Plan: Summary of the Two year Review (1989) 11 pages.
Law Reform Commission of Canada
Environmental Mediation: Project Feasibility Study (1987) 20 pages.
Federal Department of Communications
International Deregulatory Trends in Broadcasting (with Dr. T. L. McPhail) (1986) 230 pages.
Law Reform Commission of Ontario
Incidence and Patterns of Preference (with Dr. Kai Hildebrandt) for the Remedies for Wrongful Intentional Interference with Goods Project (1983), 112 pages plus appendices.
