Rutgers Chancellor Dutta Resigns After Clash With The University

NEW BRUNSWICK, NJ — After less than one year on the job, the chancellor at Rutgers University, Debasish Dutta, announced he will resign over a “clash” with fellow university leadership.

“The past year, as chancellor of the flagship campus at Rutgers, has been immensely rewarding,” Dutta said in an email to Rutgers administration on Wednesday. “However, during this time it has become clear that my vision for the chancellorship is not in alignment with that of the University.”

"It is only fair that I step aside and let the University select a new leader for the New Brunswick campus," Dutta said.

While it's still not exactly clear what that clash was, Dutta will remain at Rutgers as an engineering professor.

“I don’t think anyone’s mad at anyone,” Pete McDonough, the senior vice president of external affairs told MyCentralJersey.com. “After a year on the job, the university and chancellor got a chance to take stock, realized it was a bad fit and said we should just move on."

Dutta will transition to a faculty role at the School of Engineering in the fall. He'll take a one-year sabbatical, during which he'll continue to be paid his chancellorship salary of $480,000, per his contract, according to the report.

Dutta came to Rutgers from Purdue University. He was the chief academic and diversity officer at Purdue, where he "was responsible for ensuring that diversity and inclusion are a priority in all areas of the university," Rutgers wrote when he first was hired.

During his tenure at Purdue, he has helped increase the graduation rate, enhance student advising, establish new programs in liberal arts, and expand programs in engineering, computer science, business, nursing and technology.

Previously, he worked at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor. At Illinois, he served as chancellor’s advisor on diversity.

Official Rutgers photo of Debasish Dutta.