Robert L. Barchi arrived at Rutgers University in September as a man with no time to waste.

Gov. Chris Christie had pushed through a plan to reorganize higher education in the state, and he wanted it done in less than a year. No one knew how much it would cost, but it was clear that Rutgers would have to find a way to pay for it.

As Barchi has pushed toward that goal in his first six months on the job, he has alienated faculty, state legislators and the student body. He has been accused of marginalizing needy students, shortchanging major departments and acting detached and even dismissive.

All this has left Barchi little good will as he finds himself at the center of a Rutgers basketball scandal, with faculty and students asking why he waited for news media outrage to fire Coach Mike Rice, instead of dismissing him when he learned of his abusive behavior last fall.

Some faculty members have seized on the crisis to call for Barchi’s resignation. Others suggest that he was so focused on the merger of Rutgers and the state medical schools that he did not have enough time last fall to consider that Rice’s berating of students and throwing basketballs at their heads violated basic university values — and that the fact it was on video was a disaster waiting to explode.