By David Madden

PHILADELPHIA (CBS) – Rutgers is talking merger, again. Only this time there’s not a hint of controversy over a proposal to merge two law schools into one.

Last year at about this time people were screaming over a plan to merge Rutgers-Camden with Rowan University. That didn’t happen. But the idea of making law schools in Camden and Newark into a single entity has been debated for a couple years now.

This week, word came that the talk will turn into a plan to make it happen. But not for awhile, according to Rutgers Camden law school Dean Rayman Solomon (photo). “There are no structures in place to define governance or anything else but we all agree that this is something we would work towards.”

Over the next couple years, the new entity will have to be properly accredited and teachers have to formally approve the plan before the final decision from the Board of Governors. But Solomon insists that community ties with both schools will not change, and nothing is going to close.