5 ex-governors back Rutgers' embattled leader

NEWARK, N.J. - Five former New Jersey governors, who served from the 1970s through 2004 and representing both major political parties, gave the embattled president of Rutgers University a vote of confidence Thursday.

The three Democrats and two Republicans were responding to questions about Robert Barchi's handling of the student-athlete abuse controversy at the university as they appeared at a public forum.

The scandal - which erupted in early April with revelations of berating and other abuse of players by the basketball coach, who was ousted along with the athletic director - reignited over the weekend as former volleyball players at the University of Tennessee, once coached by Julie Hermann, Rutgers' newly hired athletic director, emerged to say she, too, was abusive.

The situation comes weeks before Rutgers is to acquire a medical school in a complicated merger with other state academic institutions, and has led to Gov. Christie's publicly defending Barchi.

On Thursday, a chorus of the state's former top elected officials agreed. They said Barchi should be left to close the merger deal despite missteps in managing the athletics department.

"It's unthinkable [to remove Barchi now] because the job Rutgers has is much bigger," said former Gov. Thomas H. Kean, a Republican.

"Rutgers is transforming itself into one of the 10 best state universities in the country. That's going to take years. There are about 1,000 laws and regulations that have to be changed," said Kean, a former university president. "It's a very difficult job. President Barchi was brought in to do that job, and we ought to let him do it."

Former Gov. Jim McGreevey, a Democrat, said, "Clearly, decisions could have been made better and more thoughtfully, but that's not the threshold criteria by which we ought to remove university presidents."

He added: "The restructuring will clearly outlast this presidency, and frankly this governorship will determine whether New Jersey is academically competitive in the physical sciences, in medical sciences, and in mathematics for the next half-century."

Democrats Brendan T. Byrne and James J. Florio and Republican Christie Whitman joined McGreevey and Kean in backing Barchi.

Some, like State Sen. Richard J. Codey, a Democrat who was governor for 14 months after McGreevey resigned, have said it's time for Barchi and Hermann to go.

Hermann was hired by Rutgers to fill the vacancy left by Tim Pernetti, the athletic director, whose resignation was fallout from the abuse of men's basketball players by their coach.

Coach Mike Rice was fired after ESPN broadcast a tape of him hitting and kicking players and using gay slurs as he yelled at them during practice.