(TRENTON) – Assembly Higher Education Chairwoman Celeste Riley (D-Gloucester/Salem/Cumberland) released the following statement on Wednesday:
“As chairwoman of the Assembly Higher Education Committee, I work alongside our college and university officials to ensure New Jersey has an elite system of higher education that rivals any in the nation. New Jerseyans demand a higher education system New Jerseyans can be proud of, but the shameful conduct of Mike Rice was a downright embarrassment.
“I find it difficult to imagine that anyone found Mr. Rice’s behavior and language to be acceptable in any situation, let alone from a taxpayer-paid employee who represented Rutgers – and thus New Jersey – on a national stage.
“The leadership at Rutgers must explain to the people of New Jersey why Mr. Rice’s firing didn’t happen sooner and how such an abusive environment was ever permitted to exist at our state university.
“If the Rutgers administration refuses to explain itself, I will seek to get the answers the people of our state deserve as to why he wasn’t fired sooner.”