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Whitman, Einstein, Bill Bradley elected to Rutgers Hall of Distinguished Alumni

Rutgers alumnus Walt Whitman

 

 

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CAMPUS ARCHITECTURE PAGE

"An Open Letter to Devco"

 

 

 Coming fall semester

President B. L. Barfski LIVE!

"I was shocked.

Shocked!!!

How could anyone have known?"

 

 November 2, 2003

At a press conference in Winants Hall, McCormick, with his wife, Suzanne Lebsock, standing grimly beside him at the podium, said he was personally sorry for the pain his actions had caused.

Rutgers Board of Governors Chair Eugene O'Hara issued a ringing statement of support. "President McCormick," he said, "has provided exactly the kind of leadership we expected. We intend to work with President McCormick on the challenges that lie ahead."

April 5, 2013 

"I want to apologize to the entire Rutgers community," Barchi said at a 1:00 p.m. press conference in Winants Hall, "for the negative impact that this situation has had on Rutgers."

Rutgers Board of Governors Chair Ralph Izzo issued a ringing statement of support. "Dr. Barchi was brought here eight months ago," he said," to lead us to academic success and academic greatness. I think he is the right person to run this place for many years to come."

 

 

Kirschner to Serve as Interim AD!

--ESPN, 10 April 2013

 

"DEAN CARL KIRSCHNER

RUTGERS UNIVERSITY

SCARLET KNIGHT FOOTBALL"

 

 

Wording on the framed plaque given to Dean Carl Kirschner by the Rutgers Athletics Department in recognition of services provided to the athletics program. Kirschner, well known as a Rutgers athletics supporter, was for many years permitted to travel to away games on the same airplane as the football team.

The plaque, attractively decorated with the Nike corporate logo, currently hangs in the former Honors Lounge, a room once used for admissions meetings to Rutgers's highly selective honors program. That admissions process having been abolished, the room is now used for other purposes.

Among his many other services to the Athletics Department, Dean Kirschner served as a principal member of the "Academic Oversight Committee" committee that interviewed recruits such as Nate Robinson, Shalicia Hurns, Davon Clark, Reggie Dixon, Justin Francis, and others to ensure that they had academic and intellectual ability equal to that of other Rutgers undergraduates, as well as personal characteristics that would permit them to contribute positively to Rutgers as an institution of higher learning.

 

Former Rutgers Dean Carl Kirschner (right), seen here in intimate conversation with former Athletic Director "Bob" Mulcahy.

 

Kirschner's committee was similarly responsible for admitting to Rutgers one Damaso Munoz, a football recruit whose credentials included a substantial number of credits purchased for $399 at "University High School," a storefront operation specializing in preparing candidates for admission to universities with Div IA athletics programs.

Kirschner first served as interim athletic director when AD "Bob" Mulcahy was fired in connection with questionable financial manipulations.More recently, serving as interim AD after "Tim" Pernetti was fired in connection with a national scandal involving basketball coach Mike Rice, Kirschner played a major role in the hiring of basketball coach Eddie Jordan, a proud Rutgers alumnus who, as it happens, is not a Rutgers alumnus, a fact that somehow eluded Carl Kirshner's"due diligence" committee:

 "I have come to know Eddie Jordan as an open, honest and terrific person to lead our men's basketball program," said interim athletic director Carl Kirschner in the press release announcing Jordan's appointment. "Rutgers is very fortunate to have Eddie return to his alma mater to restore pride in the program."

One verified Rutgers alumnus described Jordan's 5-year contract, amounting to $6.25 million, as "obscenely expensive." Another Rutgers alumnus remarked, "with people like Kirschner on board, we don't have to worry anymore about Rutgers going into a death spiral. It's guaranteed."

 

 

The "Big Ten" is a BIG mistake

Three guesses what these names have in common:

 

Shari Acho
Mike Adams
Brian Ballorini
Paul Belting
Krista Bird
Howie Brown
Corey Brown
Louis Bullock
Morgan Burke
John Chadima
Maurice Clarett
Luther Clay
Mary Sue Coleman
Harry Combes
Tim Curley
Travon Davis
Jamal Davis
Ron Dayne
Phil Dickens
Bobby DiGeronimo
Ron Dunlap
Pete Elliott
Jamar Fletcher
Gordon Gee
Andy Geiger
Thaddeus Gibson
Gregory Gill
Peter Gray
Rick Greenspan
John Hagen
Jordan Hall
Jewel Hampton
Clem Haskins
Dan Herron
Travis Howard
Derrell Johnson-Koulianos
Phil Jones
Andy Katzenmoyer
Gene Keady
Frank Kendrick
Aaron Kniffin
Bobby Knight
Steve Kuberski
Maurice Linton
Dennis Lundy
Ed Martin
Robert Marve
Mayes McLain
Michael McRobbie
Willis Mercer
Marc Mills
Jim O'Brien
George Perles
Lawrence Phillips
DeVier Posey
Terrell Pryor
Vance Redfern
Pat Richter
Eddie Rife
Adam Robinson
Kim Roslovic
Kelvin Sampson
Jerry Sandusky
Boban Savovi
Gary Schultz
Michael Senters
Sue Shand
Kevin Shapiro
Gene Smith
Graham Spanier
Tom Stidham
Neal Stoner
Maurice Taylor
Deon Thomas
Solomon Thomas
Robert Traylor
Jim Tressel
Chris Webber
Adam Wegher
Mike White
John Wiley
Mark Yudof

 

It's TACKY

It's CORRUPT

It's DISREPUTABLE

and it's

ACADEMICALLY AND INTELLECTUALLY BANKRUPT

 

THERE'S STILL TIME

GET RUTGERS OUT OF THE "BIG TEN"

Mass marketing from the Rutgers Foundation

Responses from the Rutgers community:

Dear President Barchi:

The enclosed solicitation from the Rutgers Foundation has just reached me in California, where I now reside in retirement. If this is the image which Rutgers now wishes to represent itself to the world, then we have now reached the lowest point in its long and sometimes illustrious hstory. I trust that you will withdraw this offensive, sexist, and anti-intellectual image from all university publications immediately in order to prevent further damage.

I have been a regular donor since I joined the faculty at Rutgers in the 1970s. I stopped my giving to protest the athletic policies of presidents Lawrence and McCormick, but had hoped to begin again with your appointment. I will need personal assurance from you that you mean to return Rutgers to academic prominence before I feel I can begin again.

John R. Gillis, Professor of History Emeritus.

 

Dear Doctor Barchi:

A fellow alumnus just contacted me about what he called the "thuggish" image of the university projected by the recent mailing from the Rutgers Foundation.

I am writing to say that, although it is a bit thuggish, it does seem to me to project an accurate enough image of the Rutgers you have chosen to plunge into the "Big Ten" conference.

When I lived in Ohio, I saw newscasts of the hordes of drunken students who routinely break windows, set fires, and overturn automobiles in downtown Columbus after Ohio State football victories. The person portrayed in your Rutgers Foundation mailing would clearly be at home at OSU or any similar "Big Ten" school.

From this point on, the Rutgers student body is obviously going to be overwhelmingly made up of such students. In that context, the image does succeed in projecting a sense of your own values as president, and of the direction in which you mean to take the university. So it seems to me wholly in order to continue to use it in marketing.

I'm sorry to say, though, I that I personally will be unable to donate to the Rutgers Foundation from now on -- or, in fact, to associate myself with the school in any way. I expect that, with the exception of the tiny cadre of "Scarlet R " members, most alumni of the older Rutgers feel the same.

L. G. Henrikson, San Francisco, CA

 

Dear Mr. Izzo:

I have written to you and to President Barchi deploring the effect of big-time football on Rutgers’ academic reputation. Attached is a photograph which is being used in a solicitation by the Rutgers Foundation.

Is this how you and the Board of Governors want Rutgers to present itself to the world? Is the tattooed lout in the photograph the sort of student you hope to attract? The transformation of Rutgers from a distinguished institution to a diploma mill and a sports factory has been very painful to witness.

Despite the warnings of many alumni, two administrations – and now, it appears, a third – have used a spurious sports glory to obscure the school’s obvious decline. You may be interested to know that in the past Rutgers attracted a large number of outstanding students and that these students set the tone for the entire school.

One longtime faculty member estimates that there are only about 2,000 of these students remaining in New Brunswick. When they leave, faculty flight will follow. I suggest that the Rutgers name – or “brand,” as it is now called – be decently and quietly retired. Then those of us who have a Rutgers diploma can still be proud of a school that no longer exists.

Walter Boldys, Boston, MA

plus

Voices from around the nation:

 

 Rutgers simply is perceived as a second tier school with the exception of a few departments. I went there in the early 70s and wish this was not the case. Whatever sex appeal it has stems from it not being called the U. of NJ or NJ State. The name Rutgers conjures up its colonial heritage and, yes, the competition it used to enjoy when playing football against Princeton and Columbia. My own son, a 2008 high school grad would not even look at the place. Actually, he did see it once, and the facilities looked so decrepit (other than those devoted to football) one look was all it took. Just as well since I assured him I would never pay for him to go there.

 

 Rutgers should be participating on the Division III level. RU would still be able to field teams and have their kids participate in varsity athletics. This move would let RU participate on a level they are truly suited for both financially and competitively.

Sadly, a very small handful of people desperate for RU to give them a sense of self-importance are willing to sell their souls and dump good money after bad at the expense of academics. All the while, the majority of people in New Jersey want nothing to do with this endless quest.

What will it take for RU to finally wake up and realize that Division I sports is not where it belongs?

 

 I think the core problem with big time college sports is that there are too many people out there who think that somehow their lives will be made better if one group of young men defeat another group of young men in a game of football. I emphasize the word "game."

If more residents of New Jersey (or Ohio, where I teach a few miles from THE Ohio State University) would actually get a life, there would be less pressure on supposedly academic institutions to waste resources trying to please people who care nothing for their academic mission. Let's hear it for Division III sports.

 

 Everything is perfect at RU - that is, until you leave the football complex and step into the shoddy reality of the rest of campus. My campus residence is, on a good day, on par with Section 8 (then again, with Rutgers being a state institution, I guess the place technically is "public housing").

Paint bubbling on and peeling from the ceiling, carpet haphazardly stapled to the ground with staples protruding all around, mold flakes and paint chippings flying out of the air vents, and so on and so forth. And reporting such issues are an exercise in futility and frustration. Most I know don't bother anymore.

 

 It is sad to see how Rutgers priorities have changed. Football was certainly part of our student culture in the late 1960s and early 1970s but it was not the monster it has become at RU. We thrilled when ABC Sports did a regional telecast of the centennial game against Princeton in 1969, but we didn't aspire to see experiences like that as the be all and end all of our four years on the Banks of the old Raritan.

The last time I walked around campus I saw dorms sorely in need of repair. Yet, there seems to be all this money for bright and shiny sports facilities. I hope someone comes to their senses.

 

 When I was looking at colleges in the early 2000s, I excluded Rutgers because it has long had a bad reputation for shaky academic quality and overemphasis on athletics.

It is a shame that the taxpayers of New Jersey are having so much of their dollars spent on athletics when there are needs for improving academic facilities and resources. Where is Gov. Christie calling for fiscal responsibility ?

 

 Rutgers, one of the nine Colonial colleges, was a poor but excellent educational institution when I entered as a freshman 60 years ago. It has since grown enormously, ever since as the State of NJ took on a major role in underwriting its financing as a full fledged state university.

In recent years, the state has been short of money.That alone should be sufficient reason to reserve those funds for academic purposes, rather than squandering them in some fools' fantasy of enhancing Rutgers' reputation by emphasizing the support of athletics over that of academics.

Furthermore, the admission of woefully academically incompetent athletes as "student-athletes" has further undermined Rutgers' academic mission and institutional reputation.

When an academically incompetent football recruit with failing high school grades and a fraudulently obtained diploma, as well a combined SAT score of 740 putting him in the bottom 9% of the nation, is admitted, put through an undisclosed curriculum that awards him passing grades, and acquires enough credits to be given a Rutgers diploma -- this after university president Richard McCormick has explicitly admitted knowing about the fraudulent terms on which the recruit was originally admitted -- it is abundantly clear that there is something rotten going on, and it's not in the State of Denmark.

Hopefully, there is still time left to change course and go back to the primary goal of educating NJ residents, including athletes who can also legitmately perform as college level students in the classroom as well as on the playing field.

The Boards of Trustees and Governors have the power and obligation to resurrect sanity at Rutgers. I and many other alumni hope that they take the cue and perform honorably in their mission.

 

Alumni on

Bob Barchi

 

 

 Students, alumni, and faculty who have written the BOG or Robert Barchi to protest the degrading of Rutgers into a "Big Ten" sports factory may send copies for posting here. E-mail text of letter to:

Rutgers Legacy

 

 

RU hires Vice President

for Gluten Intolerance

 

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President McGormless Live!

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BACK BY NATIONAL DEMAND

Pro & Con: the "standard" arguments

 

 

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ROBERT MAYNARD HUTCHINS

AWARD

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