Polls shows mixed feelings on Rutgers president in wake of basketball scandal

By Kelly Heyboer/ The Star-Ledger

Should Rutgers University President Robert Barchi stay or go? New Jersey voters are divided, according to a new poll.

A Quinnipiac University survey released today asked state residents their opinion on the future of Rutgers’ new leader after the school’s recent basketball coaching scandal made national headlines. The poll found a quarter of those surveyed said Barchi should be fired, while 29 percent said he should keep his job. Another 42 percent were undecided.

Barchi, who is in the first year of his presidency, has resisted calls for his resignation and appears to have the strong backing of the Rutgers Board of Governors as the university recovers from the coaching controversy.

School officials have been under pressure since leaked video footage of basketball coach Mike Rice physically and verbally abusing players at practices went viral April 2. Barchi fired Rice the next day, but the president admitted he had not watched the video when it was first given to campus officials last fall.

Barchi said he signed off on a suspension and counseling for Rice in December on the advice of other Rutgers officials. Within a few days of Rice’s firing, Barchi also accepted the resignations of Rutgers athletic director Tim Pernetti, top campus attorney John Wolf and assistant basketball coach Jimmy Martelli.

The president has come under additional fire for approving more than $2 million in financial settlements for the campus officials caught up in the scandal.

Rice will be paid $475,000 under a settlement agreement signed with university officials last week. Under the deal, he agreed not to sue Rutgers.

Pernetti signed a $1.2 million settlement in exchange for stepping down. Wolf agreed to a $420,000 payout after his resignation.

The Quinnipiac poll also found 64 percent of New Jersey voters disapprove of the large payouts given to Rice and other Rutgers officials.

“Were those big Rutgers payouts to the ousted trio a reward for bad behavior? They attracted a lot of criticism as the news trickled out, and two-thirds of New Jersey voters tell Quinnipiac University they were a bad decision,” said Maurice Carroll, director of the Quinnipiac University Polling Institute.

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