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TagsBY BOB HOLT
NEWJERSEYNEWSROOM.COM
Rutgers President Robert Barchi has assured newly hired athletic director Julie Hermann that she will not be fired over allegations from nearly 20 years ago, but more and more people are disagreeing with him.
The latest to chime in on Barchi was Republican gubernatorial candidate Senator Barbara Buono.
“I don’t know how many chances we can give this president to mess up,” Buono said, according to NorthJersey.com. “I’ve lost all confidence in his ability to lead the university.”
Hermann admits no memory of allegations of mental cruelty from former Tennessee volleyball players that she coached in the late 1990s. Former Rutgers men’s basketball coach Mike Rice was fired for abusing his players earlier this year.
“President Barchi has made mistake after mistake and we need to put an end to the crisis,” Buono said, according to NJ.com. “If the Board of Governors will not take action, Governor Christie must force their hand.”
State Senator Raymond Lesniak added that former Rutgers president Richard McCormick, should be rehired, the New York Daily News reported. Lesniak said, “I’ve had problems with Barchi before this. He’s just in over his head and not capable of giving a forthright answer.”
Barchi insisted that Rutgers was deliberate in their hiring of Hermann. “Over the course of the search, Julie's record established her as a proven leader in athletics administration with a strong commitment to academic success as well as athletic excellence, and a strong commitment to the well-being of student athletes,” Barchi said, according to the Rutgers web site. Looking at Julie’s entire record of accomplishment, which is stellar, we remain confident that we have selected an individual who will work in the best interests of all of our student athletes, our athletics teams and the university.
State Senator Richard Codey didn’t exactly mince words about the situation, saying that former athletic director Tim Pernetti’s replacement was “an obvious liar, a flat-out liar," according to an Associated Press report on wistv.com. "She shouldn't be the AD anywhere, whether it's Rutgers or anywhere else.”
Codey didn’t forget the Rutgers president, adding, “Barchi should go to Louisville himself because he is not a leader. It's dumb and dumber."
