julie.hermann.JPG

Julie Hermann on The Star-Ledger's potential death: ""That would be great. I'm going to do all I can to not give them a headline to keep them alive."

(Star-Ledger file photo)

The Star-Ledger laid off 167 people last week, the latest round of devastating cuts in a struggling industry. They were advertising execs and business writers, clerks and copy editors. Some had worked at the newspaper for decades. Most have families and mortgages.

It was, for anyone who works here – or, for that matter, anyone with an ounce of compassion – an awful couple days.

Clearly, it wasn’t for Julie Hermann. She must have been tickled, because this is the same woman who stood up in front of a class of journalism students a few weeks ago and said it would be “great” if the newspaper died.

No, really. Great. That was her word. The Rutgers athletics director, in a wide-ranging discussion with the class, was talking about her own rocky introduction with the media in New Jersey when … well, here is the exchange:



"If they're not writing headlines that are getting our attention, they're not selling ads – and they die," Hermann told the Media Ethics and Law class. "And the Ledger almost died in June, right?"

“They might die again next month,” a student said.

“That would be great,” she replied. “I’m going to do all I can to not give them a headline to keep them alive.”

Well, whoops on that, Julie.

This comment and others were revealed this week when a reporter wrote about her classroom visit on the website Muckgers.com. The reporter, who wrote on the wide-ranging interview, provided NJ.com with a copy of the recording.

Forget, for a minute, what you think about the newspaper. It doesn’t matter if you think its Rutgers’ coverage stinks, or its news coverage is biased, or if its columnists are too smug for their own good.

What matters is this: The Star-Ledger employs a lot of people. And if the Rutgers athletic director thinks it would be great if it closed down, then she relishes the idea of seeing those people lose their livelihood, their benefits and maybe more.

That two of the 167 people laid off, Brendan Prunty and Dave Hutchinson, had in recent years dedicated their professional lives to chronicling the accomplishments of her university’s athletes just brings it to a perfect level of awfulness. Dozens more we let go at properties owned by The Star-Ledger’s corporate parent – outlets like NJ.com, The Times of Trenton and the South Jersey Times. Included in their cuts, too, were people who have covered Rutgers and its athletes for years.

In a statement from Rutgers, Hermann did not apologize or explain her attack on the newspaper, instead stating that she was sharing her experiences “in an informal way and out of the glare of the media spotlight.” Because who would have imagined that journalism students would have recording devices?

“Her comments were in response to a broad array of student questions on a number of different subjects and were reflective of her own personal experiences,” the statement read. “She had no knowledge of the impending reorganization of the Star-Ledger and drastic changes that the newspaper would announce several weeks later, in April.”

Hermann is the public face of Rutgers athletics now. This is why, in the months following her mishandling of the Jevon Tyree bullying allegations, school officials did everything but hide her in a storage room at the Rutgers Athletics Center to keep her from putting her foot in her mouth again.

She survived that controversy, thanks to an independent investigation that didn’t even try to answer the one question – did she lie about talking to Tyree’s parents? – that mattered.

But you knew that wouldn’t be the end of it. Hermann has been a human P.R. nightmare since taking the job, and the response from Rutgers officials has been to dig in deeper in their support.

Maybe that’s why Hermann is rooting for reporters and editorial writers to lose their jobs – they are the only ones who seem to be holding her accountable.

Or maybe ripping The Star-Ledger is part of a plan to win over the Rutgers community, because a misguided faction of its fan base that blames the media for every problem in Piscataway will no doubt cheer her on.

But I’m betting more will see her comments as what they are: Unbefitting a person in a high-profile position at a major university, at a time when Rutgers needs a leader for its transition into the Big Ten.

She has declared war on the largest news gathering organization that covers her athletic department. What could possibly be gained by that? This was another excerpt from her classroom discussion:

“Keeping in mind that salacious sells, keeping in mind that we are a lot of people’s favorite topic, keeping in mind that there are people – I’ve got one guy over at the Ledger and he has one mission, that’s to get any AD at Rutgers fired. That’s his hobby. How soon can I get the new AD fired?”

If that “guy over at the Ledger” is yours truly, then I should make two points: 1. My hobby is gardening. 2. I hope the Rutgers AD gets out of her own way long enough to turn Rutgers into a thriving Big Ten power, because that is much, much better for business.

If not, I’ll write a column calling for her to be fired. That’s my job. But there won’t be anything “great” about it, and nor would I hope that another few hundred working stiffs I’ve never met lose their jobs, too, just because.

And if the day ever comes that Hermann is fired? I’m guessing most of the employees at The Star-Ledger will hope she finds a new job quickly. Anyone with an ounce of compassion would.