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Rutgers University

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Henry Rutgers
Henry Rutgers

Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey, was chartered on November 10, 1766 as "Queen's College," in honor of King George III's consort, Charlotte. The original purpose of Queen's College was the education of future ministers of the Dutch Reformed Church. (Ironically, given the tenets of Christianity, the college first met at a tavern called the Sign of the Red Lion, on what is today the grounds of the Johnson & Johnson Corporation corporate headquarters in New Brunswick, New Jersey.) It admitted its first students in 1771 and granted its first degree in 1774, to Matthew Leydt. When the American Revolution broke out, the college abandoned the tavern and held classes in private houses, in and near New Brunswick. Queen's College closed in 1795, due to a lack of money, and reopened in 1808. The next year, the college got a building of its own, which is now called "Old Queen's" (and which still stands). However, this was not enough to prevent Queen's College from closing 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). 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 drink to old Rutgers, loyal men, May she ne'er go down but to rise again."

"Rutgers College" became "Rutgers University" in 1924.

Rutgers now has a total of nearly 50,000 students on its three campuses: Camden, Newark, and New Brunswick/Piscataway. It comprises 12 undergraduate colleges, 11 graduate schools, and 3 schools that grant both undergraduate and graduate degrees.

Its alma mater, or anthem, is "On the Banks", written by Howard Fullerton (Class of 1872), and it features the line "For has she not stood / Since the time of the Flood / On the banks of the old Raritan". Fullerton, a member of the Order of the Bull's Blood, was alleged to have inspired the theft of a cannon from the campus of Princeton University in 1875.

The Raritan River, to which the song alludes, flows between the New Brunswick and Piscataway portions of the New Brunswick/Piscataway campus. The Raritan last flooded in 1999, during Hurricane Floyd, closing the campus for two days due to the blockage of bridges over the river.

Cap and Skull is a famous Rutgers society that admits less than one-half of one percent of seniors. It is modeled after the Skull and Bones society at Yale.

Notable alumni

Notable faculty

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