Baylor College of Medicine and Rice University End Merger Talks

Well it looks like negotiations between Rice University and Baylor College of Medicine have finally reached a definitive consensus – the merger talks are over. Students at both institutions received an e-mail from the school presidents earlier today.

We are writing to inform you that Baylor College of Medicine and Rice University have ended our discussions about a possible merger of our two institutions. At the same time, both institutions have agreed to develop further our existing academic and research relationship, which has grown significantly over the years.

There were pros and cons to this merger to begin with, but now I’m glad that the haze has cleared, and we have a final decision. Baylor Med has an interesting future ahead of it! With a fiscally positive year, a recent sum of money given for research, and motivated students, I’m not worried at all about the end of merger talks. In fact, I’m quite optimistic. As an independent institution, BCM has come a long way in the 41 years since it broke off from Baylor University, and I’m confident we can go a lot further. :-)

The Houston chronicle has a great article summarizing the situation.