Upheaval over the proposed integration of the Rutgers-Camden campus and Rowan University is now behind the University, but its ramifications still linger.

The attempt to merge the universities as part of the New Jersey Medical and Health Science Education Restructuring Act was deterred by protests from students, faculty, alumni and the surrounding community.

While Rutgers-Camden remains a part of the University because of revised legislation, the campus has been dramatically impacted, said Rodney Morrison, associate chancellor for Enrollment Management.

Morrison said the enrollment of the overall student body was affected but most significantly for the Rutgers School of Law-Camden.

Last years enrollment for the law schools first-year class was about 265, said John Oberdiek, vice dean and law professor. This year, enrollment has decreased by more than 50 percent.

People stopped applying to our law school, fearing that wed cease to exist, Oberdiek said.

Though the enrollment in law schools nationwide has decreased 15 percent in correlation with the economic downturn, the Rutgers School of Law-Camden faced a much greater enrollment loss as a result of the uncertainty around its future, Oberdiek said.

Conversely, despite the decrease in applicants to the law school, the relative LSAT scores of the admitted students do not appear to have changed significantly, he said.

Though the short-term consequences of the merger talk were mostly negative, there were some unanticipated positive externalities, Oberdiek said.

The experience of our first-year students is excellent because of the small class sizes, he said. In a perverse way, it has been a good thing.

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Merger talks continue to affect Camden