Rutgers Leader Is Criticized for Corporate Ties The president of Rutgers, already under attack for mishandling the response to an abusive basketball coach, came under new criticism on Monday after acknowledging that he receives more than $300,000 for sitting on the boards of two companies that do business with the university. The university has had contracts with the companies - one a lab supply company, the other a pharmaceutical research company - since before the president, Dr. Robert L. Barchi, was hired last September. Dr. Barchi, a neuroscientist who previously led Thomas Jefferson Medical University in Philadelphia, has sat on the boards for seven years and said he disclosed that to the university board when he was interviewed for the Rutgers presidency. A Rutgers spokesman said that in his letter of appointment, the board "recognized the value of such corporate affiliations for the university." But legislators said on Monday that the relationships, first reported by The Record newspaper, raised concerns given the university's expanding role in scientific and medical research. Dr. Barchi was hired to oversee the reorganization of New Jersey's higher education system, which includes Rutgers's absorption of most of the state's medical schools. Democrats called on Dr. Barchi to resign the positions and urged Gov. Chris Christie, a Republican, to have the state comptroller investigate the relationship. "This is a two-way financial arrangement that creates a textbook example of a conflict of interest," said State Senator Loretta Weinberg of Bergen County, the leader of the Democratic majority, adding, "Even if Mr. Barchi avoids direct involvement in business decisions between Rutgers and these firms, the appearance of a conflict could undermine his credibility at a key time in the evolution of the university." Dr. Barchi's membership on the boards pushed his total compensation, including bonuses awarded to him by Rutgers, over $1 million last year. In addition, The Record reported that his stock in one of the companies, Covance Inc., was worth $2.5 million. The university has paid Covance $100,000 over the last five years, and the other company, VWR International, $15 million. Together, the companies paid Dr. Barchi $317,000 in fees and stock awards for part-time positions on the board. In a statement, Dr. Barchi said that "recognizing the potential for conflict," he had abstained from any university interactions with the companies since becoming president of Rutgers last September. He also said he had signed a conflict-of-interest statement with VWR recusing himself from decisions related to Rutgers. Rutgers has moved from storm to storm since the spring, when ESPN showed a video of the basketball coach, Mike Rice, hurling balls and epithets at players. Dr. Barchi was criticized for not meting out a more serious punishment to Mr. Rice last fall, when the university was first shown the video, and for not watching the video until the media outcry this spring. After Mr. Rice was fired and the athletic director resigned, a new athletic director was revealed to have been the target of complaints that she treated players abusively in her career as a coach. And Dr. Barchi knowingly promoted a chief of staff who was facing a lawsuit from university employees accusing him of age discrimination. Throughout, Mr. Christie and the university's board of trustees have stood by the president, arguing that he was the best person to lead the university as it faced a pressing deadline for the medical merger, which took effect on July 1. The governor's office declined to comment.