Saint Joseph's and University of the Sciences deal built on potential for health-care programs

A merger proposal between two long-standing private universities in Philadelphia that was revealed Wednesday seems to make sense from the perspective of the institutions’ programs, scale, financial condition and the state of the higher education market. But like any merger-and-acquisition activity between two unrelated universities with hundreds of years of their own history, the potential deal raises deep questions of identity and strategy. It prompts some renewed reflection on a...