Intercollegiate Athletics

August 1, 2008

Members of the Rutgers Community:

Intercollegiate athletics are highly important to Rutgers. Along with our club teams, intramural sports, and other recreational opportunities, they form an integral part of our mission as a university. Rutgers’ remarkably dedicated student-athletes and coaches have brought great credit to the university and to New Jersey. They have raised awareness of the university and its academic strengths, instilled pride in Rutgers and the state, and have contributed to a sharp increase in student applications and visits to campus. We are doing all we can to build on that success. As that is happening, we may make missteps—and when we do, we will address them—but, fundamentally, we are making good progress to the benefit of the entire institution.

Many of you have been reading news articles over the past several days about our athletics program on the New Brunswick campus and about my formation of an Athletics Review Committee. To provide some context on these matters, we have posted information on the website at http://news.rutgers.edu/fact-sheets/2008/08/updated-rutgers-is-c-20080812.
A news release on the committee is available at http://news.rutgers.edu/news-releases/2008/07/rutgers-president-an-20080729.

I take great pride in the success our sports teams have earned in recent years, and my administration will continue working to ensure a successful and accountable athletics program.

Thank you for all you do for Rutgers.

Richard L. McCormick
President
Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey