New Rutgers president hits campus running, pushes for change in first year

By Bob Braun/Star-Ledger Columnist

NEW BRUNSWICK — When Robert Barchi moved into the president’s office inside Old Queens the other day, he noticed an old grandfather clock there did not tell the right time. He learned the 19th Century timepiece had stood at that spot for decades but hadn’t worked for 10 or 20 years, maybe longer, and no one cared.
This was intolerable to Barchi, the new president of Rutgers University who makes his own clocks from scratch, and, within hours, he had it working.
“It’s not a great clock,” said Barchi, “but if it’s going to be here, it should work properly.”

Anyone who believes the state university’s 20th president, a man of 65, will not shake up the institution should remember the clock.
In an exclusive interview, Barchi said he was going to restructure the school’s top management, start a comprehensive planning review, transform its budgeting procedures, try to reinvigorate sagging fundraising, work toward making its athletic program pay for itself, and aggressively pursue students from outside New Jersey. All in his first year.
And, of course, he will preside over the university’s takeover of two medical school campuses in Piscataway and Newark.

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