The statements follow days of pressure from Rutgers-Camden alumni, faculty, and students, who are urging the university's boards of trustees and governors - McCormick sits on both as a nonvoting member - to vote against the proposal.

At Thursday's question-and-answer event in Camden, Pritchett's comments drew riotous applause from hundreds of students, faculty, and alumni crammed into a campus auditorium.

"Let me be clear about this. I am opposed to the takeover of my campus, of our campus," Pritchett said.

"I agree South Jersey and our campus need more resources. I want to applaud the committee for recognizing that. But not this way," he said, referring to the governor's higher-education task force's recommendations.

Last week, Christie announced plans to overhaul the state's higher-education system, moving assets among Rutgers, the University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey, and Rowan with the aim of creating what he said would be a stronger public university system that could rival the best public universities in the country.

"Rutgers is good, but not great," he said of the university, which has campuses in Newark, New Brunswick, and Camden.

The governor's office did not return a phone call Thursday for comment.

The proposal for South Jersey involves merging Rutgers-Camden into Glassboro-based Rowan, creating a split campus that would include a law school, two business schools, and the soon-to-open Rowan-Cooper Medical School in Camden.

The concept is to create a research university that would both expand the historically low number of higher-education seats in the region and create an institution that could attract biotech and pharmaceutical companies.

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Rutgers-Camden chancellor denounces merger plan