N.J. Governor Wants to Merge Thomas Edison Into Rutgers

[TMW2010]

I don't mean to sound unkind in my words....but if TESC was run efficiently, this wouldn't all be happening. I worked for a company that merged, I also have worked very closely with a bureaucratic govt organization. If you haven’t yet enrolled I would wait and see. I think you will have your answer fairly quickly. Here is why. TESC is inefficient in a lot of areas. They are super efficient in handling the student aid/loans. They are super inefficient in other areas. There level of customer service is completely hit and miss. They might have five duds and one superstar. There is a logical explanation for this. Dr Pruitt has been there since 1982. A lot of the board members have been there for years. I would guess that they have a lot of the department heads have been there for years. They have been content with doing business as is. While Excelsior has twice the students and runs multi-million dollar surpluses, TESC relies on state money, to compensate for their inefficiencies. There is probably little room for advancement since you have geezers in positions that they have held for years. As a result, the superstars who do get hired eventually leave for better jobs elsewhere, and the duds remain.

The true nature of the leadership will come forth in the next few months. If there is true leadership, then each department will quickly shore up their inefficiencies, and better customer service will follow. If there is poor leadership, then the customer service will get even worse. I would wait to see which occurs. If there is true leadership then TESC's department heads are working feverishly TODAY to shore up their departments, if there is poor leadership then the department heads are behind closed doors moaning and groaning about what might happen to them personally, while their departments sink even further down the black hole of inefficiency and students are left to fend for themselves. It's all up to them. The true colors are going to show.

The first reaction was not what I expected from the TESC leaders. I expected them to say “We will explore all the opportunities available to ensure that our mission of providing affordable education to our residents is maintained”. Instead it was, we oppose the idea. That spoke volumes. That told me they were primarily interested in saving their own ass. If you are going to float the notion that you are dedicated to the mission of providing affordable education, then show some leadership, figure out how to merge while providing present students a high level of service and make it happen.

+100 internets for you. This is an excellent post.