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Serving the Rutgers community since 1869. Independent since 1980.
RUTGERS UNIVERSITY—NEW BRUNSWICK
WEDNESDAY APRIL 24, 2019
ONLINE AT DAILYTARGUM.COM
Rutgers holds inaugural conference at gun violence research center APARNA RAGUPATHI CORRESPONDENT
Yesterday, the New Jersey Center on Gun Violence Research at Rutgers University was launched, holding its inaugural conference, “Preventing Gun Violence in NJ: A Call to Action,” with speakers Gov. Phil Murphy (D-N.J.) and professional researchers. The conference was hosted by Dr. Michael Gusmano, the center’s
director of Outreach, and featured a panel discussion with researchers Shireen Rizvi, Richard Stansfield, Joe Pascarella, Valerio Bacak and Ping-hsin Chen. The goal of the conference and center, said Chancellor of Rutgers Biomedical Health Sciences (RBHS) Brian Strom, is to shed light and take action on gun violence. “Across our nation, there are over a hundred thousand firearm-related
incidents annually and almost a third of those resulting in a death,” he said. “There are known but underutilized ways to address this and new approaches are needed as well. That’s why we are here today: to share ideas, generate dialogue, provoke debate and lay the groundwork for evidence-based policies and generate scholarly cooperation in an interdisciplinary fashion.” SEE CENTER ON PAGE 4
Gov. Phil Murphy (D-N.J.) said the fight against gun violence is not just about politics, but also about common sense and more widereaching public policy solutions. COURTESY OF NICK ROMANENKO
Administrators given $5.5 M. in ‘incentives’ BRENDAN BRIGHTMAN NEWS EDITOR
University President Robert L. Barchi’s incentive pay is calculated differently than other faculty members at Rutgers because it is decided by the Board of Governors, which evaluates his work to see if he meets the University’s goals. GARRETT STEFFE / ASSOCIATE PHOTO EDITOR
Rutgers gave more than $5.5 million in “incentive pay” to approximately 700 top administrators and professors last year. The “at-risk” or “incentive pay” method for distributing payments based on their job performance is added on to their base salaries, according to an article by NJ Advance Media. The additional checks ranged from less than $100 to $169,273, which were given to University President Robert L. Barchi. Barchi’s “incentive” pay is calculated differently, as it is determined by the Board of Governors, which
evaluate his work and determine if he has met its goals. Like most top administrators, Barchi has incentive pay as a condition on his contract, according to the article. The rest of the top five incentive payouts were given to administrators from the medical school, according to the article. Brian Strom, chancellor of Rutgers Biomedical and Health Sciences (RBHS), was paid the second most with $141,359. Three of the 4 medical school administrators had base salaries higher than Barchi’s $705,305, with Leonard Lee, chair of the Department of Surgery at Rutgers Robert SEE INCENTIVES ON PAGE 4
Eagleton hosts event on economic, fiscal policy JAKE MCGOWAN CORRESPONDENT
The Eagleton Institute of Politics held a question-and-answer session on economic and fiscal policy with New Jersey Senate President Steve Sweeney (D) and Sen. Steven Oroho (R-N.J.) on Tuesday. Joining the senators was Marc Pfeiffer, assistant director of the Rutgers Bloustein Local Government Research Center. The event began with a 45-minute conversation with the two policymakers, after which the question-and-answer took place. Topics covered included economic policy, fiscal policy and the general direction of the state’s economy. The state’s economic issues are preventing investments in public education, as well as other important
projects. To help solve those issues, the senators explained the Path to Progress, a plan to overhaul and fix the state’s economy. The plan consists of several recommendations for the state, which, Sweeney said, are desperately needed. “New Jersey’s public schools are the second-most expensive in the nation because we don’t invest here. We’re either 48th or 49th in investment for our public schools,” Sweeney said. “There’s a lot of things I want to invest in. I don’t have the ability to do that, and just raising a tax here or there will not fix it. We’re gonna be in a $4 billion deficit if we don’t address this now.” John Weingart, associate director for the Eagleton Institute of Politics, gave opening remarks for SEE POLICY ON PAGE 4
Sen. Steven Oroho (R-N.J.) (left), New Jersey Senate President Steve Sweeney (D) (center) and assistant director of the Rutgers Bloustein Local Government Research Center Marc Pfeiffer (right) spoke about economic and fiscal policy. JAKE MCGOWAN
VOLUME 151, ISSUE 51 • UNIVERSITY ... 3 • OPINIONS ... 6 • INSIDE BEAT... 8• DIVERSIONS ... 9• SPORTS ... BACK