The suit, filed Tuesday in Middlesex County Superior Court by attorney Hector Rodriguez, is seeking to “halt the ongoing waste and unlawful diversion of public funds” to the athletics department, which reported a record $78 million deficit for the 2024-25 academic year.
Rodriguez, a class of 1975 Rutgers alum who was once a judge in Franklin Township, argues in the filing that the $516 million deficit Rutgers has accrued since joining the Big Ten in 2014 “constitutes a systemic misuse of public resources undertaken without meaningful oversight, without legislative authorization, and without a credible plan for fiscal sustainability.”
Seeking a trial by jury, Rodriguez requests that the court declare that the school’s “continued subsidization of athletics deficits with public funds violates New Jersey law” and orders “an independent financial audit of Rutgers athletics.” He also seeks to prevent Rutgers “from approving or funding athletic deficits using taxpayer-supported funds without legislative authorization” and demands that Rutgers “make restitution to the State of New Jersey for all amounts deemed to have been improperly used.”
