Rutgers University: Difference between revisions

Rutgers University

Official Seal of Rutgers University
Motto	Sol iustitiae et occidentem illustra (Sun of righteousness, shine upon the West also.)
Type	Public, research university
Established	November 10, 1766
President	Richard L. McCormick
Undergraduates	38,576
Postgraduates	12,904
Location	New Brunswick/Piscataway Camden Newark , New Jersey , USA
Campus	Urban
Athletics	27 sports teams
Mascot	Scarlet Knight
Website	http://www.rutgers.edu/

"Rutgers" redirects here. For other uses, see Rutgers (disambiguation).

This article largely discusses Rutgers University in New Brunswick, New Jersey. For Rutgers University's other campuses, please see Rutgers-Newark and Rutgers-Camden.

Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey is the largest institution for higher education in the U.S. state of New Jersey. The university's primary campus is located in the cities of New Brunswick and Piscataway, with two smaller campuses in Newark and Camden. Rutgers offers more than 100 distinct bachelor, 100 master, and 80 doctoral and professional degree programs across 29 degree-granting schools and colleges, 16 of which offer graduate programs of study.

Rutgers is the eighth-oldest institution of higher learning established in the United States, originally chartered as Queen's College in 1766. While originally a Dutch Reformed Church-affiliated institution, it is now a nonsectarian public university and makes no religious demands on its students. Along with the College of William and Mary, Rutgers is one of two colonial colleges which later became public universities and though invited because of its antiquity, did not join the Ivy League athletic conference.

Rutgers was designated a State University of New Jersey by acts of the New Jersey Legislature in 1945 and 1956. The University of Newark merged with Rutgers in 1946, expanding the school to include the current campus in Newark. The College of South Jersey, which became the Camden campus, merged in 1950.

Rutgers was once widely considered to be Columbia University's sister school given the original names of both institutions: Queen's College (Rutgers) and King's College (Columbia).

About Rutgers University

Winter at Old Queen's, the oldest building at Rutgers, built between 1808-1825.

Rutgers is a leading national research university and is unique as the only university in the nation that is a colonial chartered college (1766), a land-grant institution (1864), and a state university (1945/1956). There are seventeen degree-granting divisions at Rutgers.

Rutgers College became the land-grant college of New Jersey in 1864, resulting in the establishment of the Rutgers Scientific School, featuring departments of agriculture, engineering, and chemistry. Further expansion in the sciences came with the founding of the New Jersey Agricultural Experiment Station in 1880 and the division of the Rutgers Scientific School into the College of Engineering (now the School of Engineering) in 1914 and the College of Agriculture (now Cook College) in 1921. The precursors to several other Rutgers divisions were also established during this period: the College of Pharmacy (now the Ernest Mario School of Pharmacy) in 1892, the New Jersey College for Women (now Douglass College) in 1918, and the School of Education in 1924. Later, University College, founded to serve part-time, commuting students and Livingston College, emphasizing the urban experience, were created.

The first Summer Session began in 1913 with one six-week session. That summer program offered 47 courses and had an enrollment of 314 students. Currently, Summer Session offers over 1,000 courses to more than 15,000 students on the Camden, Newark, and New Brunswick/Piscataway campuses, off-campus, and abroad.

Rutgers was designated the State University of New Jersey by acts of the New Jersey Legislature in 1945 and 1956. Since the 1950s, Rutgers has continued to expand, especially in the area of graduate education. The Graduate School—New Brunswick, and professional schools have been established in such areas as business, management, public policy, social work, applied and professional psychology, the fine arts, and communication, information and library studies. (A number of these schools offer undergraduate programs as well.)

Many Rutgers departments are nationally recognized for important scholarly contributions -- notably English, History, Mathematics, Philosophy, and Physics. Rutgers is ranked by U.S. News & World Report as the third best state university in the Northeast and the 60th best school in America. Rutgers continues to be on the frontlines of science and innovation, and has given birth to discoveries and inventions such as water-soluble sustained release polymers, Tetraploids, robotic hands, artificial bovine insemination, the creation of several antibiotics, and development of the ceramic tiles for the heat shield on the Space Shuttle. Currently Rutgers researchers in the biomedical disciplines are driving closer and closer to an effective cure for AIDS.

On September 10, 1970, after several years of debate and planning, the Board of Governors voted to admit women into the previously all-male Rutgers College. The transformation from single-sex to coeducational institutions became a trend in many colleges across the United States that had—up to the late 1960's and early 1970's—remained all-male. Today, Douglass College (originally the New Jersey College for Women) remains all-female, while the rest of the institution is coeducational.

Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey, is accredited by the Commission on Higher Education of the Middle States Association of Colleges and Schools (since 1921). In 1989, Rutgers University became a member of the Association of American Universities, an organization comprised of the 62 leading research universities in North America.

Richard Levis McCormick (b. 1947) is the current president of Rutgers University.

Divisions of the New Brunswick/Piscataway Campus

For information regarding divisions at Rutgers campuses in Newark and Camden, please see: Rutgers University-Newark and Rutgers University-Camden.

• Cook College
• Douglass College
• Livingston College
• Rutgers College
• University College
• College of Nursing
• Edward J. Bloustein School of Planning and Public Policy
• Ernest Mario School of Pharmacy
• Graduate School of Applied and Professional Psychology
• Graduate School of Education
• Mason Gross School of the Arts
• Rutgers Business School–New Brunswick
• School of Communication, Information and Library Studies
• School of Engineering
• School of Management and Labor Relations
• School of Social Work

Starting in the fall of 2007, Douglass, Livingston, University, and Rutgers Colleges will be merged into an entity to be known as the Rutgers College of Arts and Sciences. Cook College will become the School of Environmental and Biological Sciences. These structural changes are due to the often conflicting and markedly different admissions and graduation requirements between residential colleges at Rutgers University. As a result, these changes, recommended by a task force report in 2005, will subject all incoming Arts and Sciences undergraduates to the same admission and graduation requirements, and impose a universal core curriculum.

History and tradition

Early history

Jacob Hardenbergh and Theodorus Frelinghuysen's son John lived in this building, known as the "Old Dutch Parsonage," in Somerville, New Jersey.

Shortly after the creation of the College of New Jersey (later Princeton University) in 1746, ministers of the Dutch Reformed Church sought to establish autonomy in ecclesiastical affairs. At that time, those who wanted to become ministers within the church had to travel to the Netherlands to be trained and ordained, and many of the affairs of churches in the American colonies were managed from Europe. Thus, the ministers sought to create a governing body known as a classis to give local autonomy to the church in the colonies, and offer opportunities for the education of ministers.

Throughout the 1750s, Dutch ministers joined the effort to create a classis in the colonies, including Theodorus Jacobus Frelinghuysen who travelled on horseback in winter of 1755 to several congregations throughout the northeast to rally ministers and congregations to the cause. Soon after, Frelinghuysen travelled to the Netherlands to appeal to the General Synod, the Dutch Reformed Church's governing council, for the creation of the classis. In 1761, the effort having failed, Frelinghuysen set sail for the colonies, but as his vessel approached New York City he mysteriously perished at sea.

After Frelinghuysen's death, Jacob Rutsen Hardenbergh (later Rutgers' first president) established himself as spokesperson for the cause, and a strong supporter of establishing a college in New Jersey. Hardenbergh travelled to Europe, renewing Frelinghuysen's efforts to gain the Synod's approval, but was also rejected. Much to the Synod's chagrin, however, Hardenburgh returned to the colonies with money for the establishment of a college.

Queen's College

The school now called Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey, was chartered on November 10, 1766 as "Queen's College," in honor of King George III's Queen-consort, Charlotte of Mecklenburg-Strelitz (1744–1818). The charter was signed and the young college supported by William Franklin (1730–1813), the last Royal Governor of New Jersey and illegitimate son of Benjamin Franklin. The original charter specified the establishment both of the college, and of an institution called the Queen's College Grammar School, intended to be a preparatory school affiliated and governed by the college. This institution, today the Rutgers Preparatory School, was a part of the college community until 1957.

Early nineteenth century drawing of Old Queen's

The original purpose of Queen's College was to "educate the youth in language, liberal, the divinity, and useful arts and sciences" and for the training of future ministers for the Dutch Reformed Church—though the university is now non-sectarian and makes no religious demands on its students. It admitted its first students in 1771—a single sophomore and a handful of first-year students taught by a lone instructor—and granted its first degree in 1774, to Matthew Leydt. Despite the religious nature of the college, it first held classes at a tavern called the Sign of the Red Lion, located on the corner of Albany and Neilson streets on what is today the grounds of the Johnson & Johnson corporate headquarters in New Brunswick. When the Revolutionary War broke out and taverns were suspected by the British as being hotbeds of rebel activity, the college abandoned the tavern and held classes in private houses, in and near New Brunswick. During its early years, the college developed as a classic liberal arts institution, and this development (coupled with both institutions growing larger and overcrowding) caused it to sever its relationship with the New Brunswick Theological Seminary, founded in 1786, which shared facilities with the college until 1856.

In its early years, Queen's College was plagued by a lack of funds. In 1793, with the fledgling college falling on hard times, the board of trustees voted on a resoluton to merge with the College of New Jersey (now Princeton University). The measure failed by one vote. The problem did not go away, and in 1795, lacking both funds and tutors, the trustees consider moving the college to New York. Instead, they decide to close, only to reopen in 1808 after the Trustees raised $12,000.

The next year, the College got a building of its own, affectionately called "Old Queen's" (still standing), which is regarded today by architectural experts as one of the nation's finest examples of Federal architecture. University President Ira Condict laid the cornerstone on April 27, 1809. However, financial woes delayed completion of the building for 14 years. In its early years, Queen's College, the Queen's College Grammar School, and the New Brunswick Theological Seminary shared space in Old Queen's. In 1856, with Old Queen's suffering from overcrowding, the Seminary moved to a home of its own nearby.

Col. Henry Rutgers (1745–1830)

A nationwide economic depression, combined with impending war, forced Queen's College to close down a second time, in 1812. In 1825, Queen's College was reopened, and its name was changed to "Rutgers College" in honor of American Revolutionary War hero Colonel Henry Rutgers (1745–1830). According to the Board of Trustees, Colonel Rutgers was honored because he epitomized Christian values, although it should be noted the Colonel was a wealthy bachelor known for his philanthropy. A year after the school renamed itself, it received 2 donations from its namesake. Rutgers, a descendant of an old Dutch family that had settled in New Amsterdam (now New York City), gave the fledgling college a $200 bell that hangs from the cupola of the Old Queen's building; then later in 1826 he donated the interest on a $5,000 bond. This second donation finally gave the college the sound financial footing it had sorely needed. The college's early troubles inspired numerous student songs, including an adaptation of the drinking song Down Among the Dead Men, with the lyrics "Here's a toast to old Rutgers, loyal men/May she ne'er go down but to rise again."

Rutgers College was renamed Rutgers University in 1924.

In both 1947 and 1966, the College Avenue Gymnasium—built on the site of the first intercollegiate football game—hosted New Jersey's Constitutional Conventions.

Traditions and legacies

Statue of Prince William the Silent donated anonymously by Dr. Fenton B. Turck to Rutgers. This statue was once said to whistle upon detecting a virgin. A similar statue stands in The Hague.

Howard Fullerton, a member of the Order of the Bull's Blood, goes down in Rutgers history not only for penning the alma mater, but also for allegedly inspiring the theft of a cannon from the campus of Princeton University on April 25, 1875, an event—and the ensuing debate between the two university presidents—reported sensationally in nationwide newspapers. The cannon was believed to have belonged to Rutgers when used in battle during the American Revolution. Under the cover of night, a dozen Rutgers students, stole the cannon from its place at Princeton, and brought it back by wagon to New Brunswick before the following dawn. In retaliation, Princeton students raided the Rutgers Armory and stole a few muskets. Reputedly—though this may have been baseless rhetoric originating from the heated debate after the theft—the Rutgers students are accused of having stolen the wrong cannon. Eventually the committee appointed by the two colleges recommended the return of the stolen items to their owners. When the cannon was returned, Princeton University officials ordered it buried in the ground, encased in cement, with only a few feet of the butt end exposed above ground.

Several Rutgers students attempted to repeat the crime, unsuccessfully, in October 1946, attaching one end of a length of heavy chain to the cannon and the other to their Ford. Surprised by Princeton men and the local constabulatory, they gunned the engine of the Ford so viciously that the car was torn in half. The Rutgers army managed to escape, but with neither the car, nor their prize, the cannon.

To this day, intrepid Rutgers students journey the 16 miles to Princeton University to place their declaration of ownership of the cannon by painting the cannon scarlet red. Unfortunately, like the students who stole the cannon in 1875, they usually paint the wrong cannon, as there are two on Cannon Green behind Nassau Hall at Princeton. Today, a cannon is placed in the ground before Old Queens at Rutgers, by the class of 1876, memorializing both this event and several alumni in the armed services who were killed in action.

At Commencement exercise in the Spring, tradition leads undergraduates to break clay pipes over the cannon, symbolizing the breaking of ties with the college, and leaving behind the good times of one's undergraduate years. This symbolism dates back to when pipe-smoking was fashionable among undergraduates, and many college memories were of evenings of pipe smoking and revelry with friends.

Alma Mater

The alma mater of Rutgers University is the song entitled On the Banks of the Old Raritan, written by Howard Fullerton (Class of 1872). The lyrics to the song are as follows:

I.

My father sent me to old Rutgers,

And resolv'd that I should be a man;

And so I settled down,

in that noisy college town,

On the banks of the old Raritan.

(Chorus)

On the banks of the old Raritan, my boys,

where old Rutgers ever more shall stand,

For has she not stood since the time of the flood,

On the banks of the old Raritan.

II.

Then sing aloud to Alma Mater,

And keep the scarlet in the van;

For with her motto high,

Rutgers' name shall never die,

On the banks of the old Raritan.

(Chorus)

*N.B.: The phrase "my boys" in the first line of the chorus was changed in 1990 to "my friends" in light of Rutgers being coeducational since 1970.

Athletics

Scene from Rutgers football game on September 11, 2004 vs. the University of New Hampshire

Rutgers was among the first American institutions to engage in intercollegiate athletics, and participated in a small circle of schools that included Yale University, Columbia University and long-time rival, Princeton University.

On May 2, 1866, in the first intercollegiate athletic event at Rutgers, the college's baseball team was defeated 40-2 by a team from the College of New Jersey (now Princeton University).

Rutgers University is often referred to as The Birthplace of College Football. Rutgers and Princeton played the first intercollegiate football match on November 6, 1869, on a plot of ground where the present-day Rutgers gymnasium now stands. Rutgers won the game, with a score of 6 runs to Princeton's 4.

However, "football" at the time was a name given to variety of games, and the rules of the game played by Rutgers in 1869 resembled soccer much more than modern American football. Scores were computed in runs (roughly equivalent to goals). Instead of wearing uniforms, the players stripped off their hats, coats, and vests and bound their suspenders around the waistbands of their trousers. For headgear, the Rutgers team wound their scarlet scarves into turbans atop their heads. During the 1870s, games resembling rugby became popular at other American colleges, and Rutgers eventually adopted similar rules. These games ultimately developed into modern American football. (See the article History of American football, for further information.) Rutgers, which declined an invitation to join the Ivy League in the 1950s, maintains athletic rivalries with Princeton and Columbia in all intercollegiate sports but has not met either school in football since 1980.

An amusing sidenote: the first intercollegiate competition in Ultimate Frisbee (now called simply "Ultimate") was held between students from Rutgers and Princeton on November 6, 1972—the one hundred third anniversary of the first intercollegiate football game. Rutgers won 29-27.

Today, Rutgers is a member of the Big East Conference, (in football since 1991, all other sports since 1995) a collegiate athletic conference consisting of 16 colleges and universities from the East Coast and Midwestern regions of the United States. The Big East is a member of the Bowl Championship Series. Rutgers currently fields 27 intercollegiate sports programs and is a Division I-A school as sanctioned by the National Collegiate Athletic Association.

In 2005, Rutgers accepted a bowl bid to play Arizona State University in the Insight Bowl in Phoenix, Arizona. The Scarlet Knights lost to the ASU with a score of 45 to 40 in the highest scoring bowl game in NCAA history. The only other bowl appearance for the Scarlet Knights was in 1978 at the the now defunct Garden State Bowl, held at Giants Stadium, also against the Sun Devils of Arizona State.

Mascot

File:ScarletKnight.jpg

The Rutgers University mascot is the Scarlet Knight.

Since its days when the school was officially known as Queen's College, the athletic teams were referred to as the Queensmen. Officially serving as the mascot figure for several football seasons beginning in 1925 was a giant, colorful, felt-covered, costumed representation of an earlier campus symbol, the "Chanticleer." Though a fighting bird of the kind which other colleges have found success, to some it bore the connotation of "chicken." It is also a little-known fact that the New Brunswick-based broadcast station, WCTC, which serves as the flagship station of Rutgers athletics, had its call letters derived from the word "ChanTiCleer." Chanticleer remained as the nickname for some 30 years.

In the early 1950s, in the hope of spurring both all-around good athletic promise and RU fighting spirit, a campus-wide selection process changed the mascot to that of a knight. By 1955, the Scarlet Knight had officially become the new Rutgers mascot.

Presidents of Rutgers University

1. 1785–1790 Jacob Rutsen Hardenbergh (1736–1790)
2. 1791–1795 William Linn (1752–1808)
3. 1795–1810 Ira Condict (1764–1811)
4. 1810–1825 John Henry Livingston (1746–1825)
5. 1825–1840 Philip Milledoler (1775–1852)
6. 1840–1850 Abraham Bruyn Hasbrouck (1791–1879)
7. 1850–1862 Theodore Frelinghuysen (1787–1862)
8. 1862–1882 William Henry Campbell (1808–1890)
9. 1882–1890 Merrill Edward Gates (1848–1922)
10. 1891–1906 Austin Scott (1848–1922)
11. 1906–1924 William Henry Steele Demarest (1863–1956)
12. 1925–1930 John Martin Thomas (1869–1952)
13. 1930–1931 Philip Milledoler Brett (1871–1960)
14. 1932–1951 Robert Clarkson Clothier (1885–1970)
15. 1951–1958 Lewis Webster Jones (1899–1975)
16. 1959–1971 Mason Welch Gross(1911–1977)
17. 1971–1989 Edward J. Bloustein (1925–1989)
18. 1990–2002 Francis L. Lawrence (b. 1937)
19. 2002— Richard L. McCormick (b. 1947)

See also

• Colonial colleges
• List of notable Rutgers University people
• Public Ivy
• Rutgers-Newark
• Rutgers-Camden

References and external links

Background Resources

• [www.rutgers.edu] Rutgers University website (cited below)
• Demarest, William Henry Steele. History of Rutgers College: 1776-1924. (New Brunswick, NJ: Rutgers College, 1924).
• History of Rutgers College: or an account of the union of Rutgers College, and the Theological Seminary of the General Synod of the Reformed Dutch Church. Prepared and published at the request of several trustees of the College, by a trustee. (New York: Anderson & Smith, 1833).
• McCormick, Richard P. Rutgers: a Bicentennial History. (New Brunswick, NJ: Rutgers University Press, 1966).
• Schmidt, George P. Princeton and Rutgers: The Two Colonial Colleges of New Jersey. (Princeton, NJ: Van Nostrand, 1964).

External links

• www.rutgers.edu — Rutgers University website
• Rutgers Alumni Association — Established 1831, fourth oldest alumni group in the nation.
• "Rutgers Through the Years" Timeline — more on Rutgers history
• WRSU — Rutgers University radio station
• www.scarletknights.com — Rutgers Athletics website
• scarletnation.com — Scarlet Nation Fan Site
• The Daily Targum — the daily newspaper at Rutgers University, since 1869.
• The Centurion — the monthly conservative magazine published at Rutgers.
• The Medium — Rutgers controversial entertainment weekly newspaper.