We are calling on our members to stand with our biomedical faculty colleagues in their demand that Governor Mikie Sherrill veto A5350/S4515, as articulated by BHSNJ President Catherine Monteleone in this NJ.com op-ed.
The state legislature recently passed Assembly Bill 5350 / Senate Bill 4515, which would allow Rutgers Biomedical and Health Sciences top management to be essentially privatized.
If Governor Sherrill ratifies the bill, it will allow leadership to draw lavish paychecks from RWJBarnabas, the private corporation Rutgers entered a partnership with nearly a decade ago—paychecks that would be shielded from public scrutiny and accountability for administrators already making more than a million dollars per year in salary and bonuses.
Removing salary transparency from this process would result in a gross incentive to prioritize the corporatization of Rutgers University’s public safety net hospitals. Read more about this direct threat to health equity and the faculty union’s priorities in BHSNJ’s op-ed at NJ.com.
If Governor Sherrill signs this bill into law, it will further enable Barnabas to undermine our university’s educational and patient care missions in favor of profit generation for a private healthcare system.
Please, call Governor Sherrill *today* and urge her to VETO Assembly Bill 5350/Senate Bill 4515.
Call the Governor’s Office at: 609-292-6000 (see sample call script below).
Solidarity,
Becky and HP
Rebecca Givan, President, Rutgers AAUP-AFT
Heather Pierce, President, Rutgers Adjunct Faculty Union
Sample call script: feel free to adjust based on your specific role
Hello. My name is [name], and I am a Rutgers [faculty member/employee] and New Jersey resident.
I am calling to urge Governor Sherrill to veto A5350/S4515.
Weakening conflict-of-interest protections risks undermining independent decision-making, academic integrity, and public trust. Decisions about education, research, faculty, and patient care should serve students, physicians, patients, and the people of New Jersey—not private financial interests.
Please protect the independence of Rutgers’s medical schools and preserve the public’s trust by vetoing A5350/S4515.
Thank you.