Pass the drugs, hallucination time is upon us. That was my reaction to reading Board of Governors chairman the Rev. William Howard's statement to the recent Rutgers University Student Assembly meeting that the path out of the University's budget crisis will be paved with alumni dollars. As reported in The Daily Targum, "One of the ways Howard said the University plans to deal with budget crisis is by asking for continued alumni support." This won't happen, and the reason is made clear in the updated Gannett database of university paychecks: Rutgers' top earner is football head coach Greg Schiano ($1.797 million), the No. 3 earner is women's basketball head coach C. Vivian Stringer ($749,000) and the No. 6 earner is Director of Intercollegiate Athletics Robert E. Mulcahy ($378,000). Football assistants, the men's basketball coach and similar positions are also among the University's highest paid. My question as an alumnus is, why would I give to subsidize these paychecks? Although I have given to Rutgers for more than 25 years, I believe that is at an end. I get e-mails every day from other alumni who also say they will stop giving. In each case, the cry is that we are eager to support a university, but none of us wants to support a sports factory. Memo to Rutgers Foundation head Carol Herring ($275,000 in 2007 salary): Don't call me, I'll call you … and don't expect your phone to ring until Rutgers put an end to this silly and expensive sports mania.
Robert McGarvey is a Rutgers College Class of 1970 alumnus.
