By David Cruz
NJ Today
Rutgers University President Robert Barchi’s attempt at controlling the conversation at today’s rescheduled town hall meeting ended abruptly when one member of the audience got up and forced a premature end to his PowerPoint presentation.
“You have been speaking to us for 25 minutes and you have been telling us the most obvious things imaginable. You have spent who knows how much for a consulting group to tell you that the educational mission of our university is research and teaching. Who knew?” asked one audience member.
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The meeting, postponed last week after the Mike Rice controversy exploded, was supposed to be a conversation about the status of the merger with UMDNJ and an opportunity for students, faculty and staff at Rutgers Newark to air their concerns about the future of their campus. Barchi’s role in the scandal was front and center, with many here calling on the president to resign or to be fired.
”This guy clearly withheld information that was important to the Rutgers community and did nothing. I mean, what happened was a slap on the wrist — a fine and he had to go to anger management,” said Rutgers graduate student Christian McFarland.
“They were trying to hide it. If he knew from June why didn’t he make a move ahead of time? It just goes to show you that they don’t really care about students and about the faculty. All they care about is money,” said Rutgers student Ahmad Aburas.
“I know the importance of sports in all universities, not just Rutgers, but it shouldn’t be in front of education to the point that people’s education is hurting, resources are hurting, research, whatever the particular department is hurting as a result to put sports first. That I don’t agree with,” said Arthur Townes.
Barchi was brought in last year primarily to shepherd the university through the controversial merger with UMDNJ. The neuroscientist and former Provost at Penn, had never run a school with the kind of big time athletic program Rutgers is trying to develop. At times today, and indeed last week when the controversy broke, he has seemed to be out of his element.
“I serve at the pleasure of the board every day, and I serve basically at the pleasure of the university every day,” Barchi said.
The university announced the formation of a search committee for a new athletic director, who will then have to start a search for a new coach. The progress of the university’s merger is ongoing and will be the subject of future town hall meetings like this one.
The pressure from the university community is not likely to die down, leaving some to question whether he will even be around to see through to the conclusion the merger he was specifically brought in to supervise.