Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey, commonly referred to as Rutgers University or simply Rutgers ( ), is a large public land-grant research university consisting of three campuses in New Jersey. Chartered in 1766, Rutgers was originally called Queen's College and was affiliated with the Dutch Reformed Church. It is the eighth-oldest college in the United States, the second-oldest in New Jersey (after Princeton University), and one of nine colonial colleges that were chartered before the American Revolution.Stoeckel, Althea. "Presidents, professors, and politics: the colonial colleges and the American revolution" , Conspectus of History (1976) 1(3):45–56.Chapter XXIII. Education. § 13. Colonial Colleges in The Cambridge History of English and American Literature. (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1907–1921; online edition, 2000).
In 1825, Queen's College was renamed Rutgers CollegeInstitutional Research and Planning, Factbook, Almanac of Historical Facts , Accessed September 7, 2013 in honor of Colonel Henry Rutgers, whose substantial gift to the school had stabilized its finances during a period of uncertainty. From its founding to the mid-20th century, Rutgers was a private liberal arts college. It has evolved into a major public research university since being designated the State University of New Jersey by the state's legislature in 1945 and 1956.State of New Jersey. New Jersey Statutes Annotated 18A:65–1 et seq. enacted by P.L. 1945, ch. 49, p. 115; P.L. 1956, ch. 61.
Rutgers encompasses several distinct campuses. Since colonial times, Rutgers' historic core has been located along College Avenue at the College Avenue Campus in New Brunswick, New Jersey, as part of Rutgers University–New Brunswick. Rutgers–New Brunswick includes the Douglass and Cook campuses, both primarily in the city of New Brunswick, as well as both the Busch and Livingston campuses on the north side of the Raritan River in Piscataway. Rutgers also makes use of many buildings throughout downtown New Brunswick. Two other major campuses are located at Rutgers University–Newark, and Rutgers University–Camden. The university has additional facilities located throughout the state, including oceanographic research facilities at the Jersey Shore.Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey. Numbers, Statistics & Stories to Tell: Facts & Figures . Retrieved September 7, 2013.
Rutgers is a land-grant, sea-grant, and space-grant university, as well as the largest university in the state. Instruction is offered by more than 9,930 faculty members in 175 academic departments to over 51,400 undergraduate students and more than 19,400 graduate students. As of Fall 2026, Rutgers University enrolls over 71,000 students across its three campuses, making it one of the largest universities in the United States.Rutgers University. (2023). Facts & Figures. Retrieved from https://www.rutgers.edu/about/facts-figures The university is accredited by the Middle States Commission on Higher EducationMiddle States Commission on Higher Education. Institution Directory: Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey and Statement of Accreditation Status: Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey . Retrieved September 7, 2013. and is a member of the Association of American Universities and the Universities Research Association.Universities Research Association, Inc. Universities (Members) . Retrieved August 26, 2013.
History
18th century Two decades after the College of New Jersey, now Princeton University, was established in 1746 by the New Light Presbyterians, ministers of the Dutch Reformed Church, seeking autonomy in ecclesiastical affairs in the Thirteen Colonies, sought to establish a college to train those who wanted to become ministers within the Dutch Reformed Church in the colony. This religious organization developed into the Reformed Church in America.And then there was Rutgers... in The Daily Targum November 8, 2002. Retrieved August 12, 2006.A Historical Sketch of Rutgers University by Thomas J. Frusciano, University Archivist. Retrieved August 12, 2006.
Through several years of effort by Theodorus Jacobus Frelinghuysen (1691–1747) and Jacob Rutsen Hardenbergh (1736–1790), later the college's first president, Queen's College received its charter on November 10, 1766, from New Jersey's last royal governor, William Franklin (1730–1813), the son of Benjamin Franklin. The original charter established the college under the corporate name the trustees of Queen's College, in New-Jersey, named in honor of Queen Charlotte (1744–1818), and created both the college and the Queen's College Grammar School, intended to be a preparatory school affiliated and governed by the college. The Grammar School, today the private Rutgers Preparatory School, was a part of the college community until 1959.Rutgers Through the Years, Rutgers University. Accessed January 1, 2025. New Brunswick was chosen as the location over Hackensack because the New Brunswick Dutch had the support of the Anglican population, making the royal charter easier to obtain.Shenker, Israel. "Rutgers Still Uneasy as the State University", The New York Times, March 29, 1975. Accessed January 1, 2025. "It was founded in 1766, as Queen's College, by Dutch Reformed faithful who felt betrayed when coreligionists joined Anglicans to found King's College (later Columbia University). New Brunswick, chosen over Hackensack as the college site, had about 150 houses at the time, and the first class was set up in a former tavern ('Sign of the Red Lion')."
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.A Charter for Queen's College in New Jersey (1770) in Special Collections and University Archives, Archibald S. Alexander Library, Rutgers University, New Brunswick, New Jersey.
In 1771, the college admitted its first students, which included 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 early college, the first classes were held at a tavern called the Sign of the Red Lion.Rutgers College and the American Revolution . Retrieved July 12, 2006 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 homes.
Like many colleges founded in the U.S. during this time, Rutgers benefited from slave labor and funds derived from purchasing and selling enslaved people. Research undertaken at the university in the 2010s began to uncover and document these connections, including the university's foundation on land taken from the indigenous Lenape people.
19th century
In its early years, due to a lack of funds, Queen's College was closed for two extended periods. Early trustees considered merging the college with the College of New Jersey, in Princeton, but the measure failed by one vote. They later considered relocating it to New York City. In 1808, after raising $12,000, the college temporarily reopened and broke ground on a building of its own, called "Old Queens", designed by architect John McComb Jr.Paths to Historic Rutgers: A Self-Guided Tour , at Rutgers University. Retrieved August 9, 2006. The college's third president, Ira Condict, laid the cornerstone on April 27, 1809. Shortly after, the New Brunswick Theological Seminary, founded in 1784, relocated from Brooklyn, to New Brunswick, and shared facilities with Queen's College and the Queen's College Grammar School, and all three institutions were then overseen by the Reformed Church in America. During those formative years, all three institutions fit into Old Queens. In 1830, Queen's College Grammar School moved across the street, and in 1856, the seminary relocated to a seven-acre (28,000 m2) tract less than one-half mile (800 m) away.
After several years of closure resulting from an economic depression after the War of 1812, Queen's College reopened in 1825 and was renamed "Rutgers College" in honor of American Revolutionary War hero Henry Rutgers (1745–1830). According to the board of trustees, Colonel Rutgers was honored because he epitomized Christian ethics. A year after the school was renamed, it received two donations from its namesake: a $200 bell still hanging from the cupola of Old Queen's and a $5,000 bond () which placed the college on sound financial footing.
Rutgers College became the land-grant college of New Jersey in 1864 under the Morrill Act of 1862, resulting in the establishment of the Rutgers Scientific School, featuring departments of agriculture, engineering, and chemistry. The Rutgers Scientific School would expand over the years to grow into the New Jersey Agricultural Experiment Station (1880) and divide into the College of Engineering (1914) and the College of Agriculture (1921). Rutgers created the New Jersey College for Women in 1918, and the School of Education in 1924.
20th century
With the development of graduate education, and the continued expansion of the institution, the collection of schools became Rutgers University in 1924. Rutgers College continued as a liberal arts college within the university. Later, University College (1945) was founded to serve part-time, commuting students and Livingston College (1969) was created by the Rutgers Trustees, ensuring that the interests of ethnically diverse New Jersey students were met.
Rutgers was designated the state university of New Jersey by acts of the New Jersey Legislature in 1945 and 1956. 18A:65–1 et seq. (Public Law 1956, chapter 61) repealing and succeeding P.L. 1945, c.49, p.115. Retrieved August 8, 2006. Although Rutgers thus became a public university, it still retains—as the successor to the private college founded and chartered in 1766—some private rights and protections regarding its fundamental character and mission.
The newly-designated state university absorbed the University of Newark in 1946 and then the College of South Jersey and South Jersey Law School in 1950. These two institutions became Rutgers University–Newark and Rutgers University–Camden, respectively. On September 10, 1970, the board of governors voted to admit women into Rutgers College.
There were setbacks in the growth of the university. In 1967, the Rutgers Physics Department had a Centers of Excellence Grant from the NSF which allowed the physics department to hire several faculty each year. These faculty were to be paid by the grant for three years, but after that time any faculty hired with the associate or full professor designation would become tenured. The governor and the chancellor forced Rutgers to lose this grant by rejecting the condition that tenure be granted."NSF Science Development Grant Peter Weiss (1964-1972)", Rutgers University. Accessed January 1, 2025.
In 1970, the newly formed Rutgers Medical School hired major faculty members from other institutions. In 1971, the governor's office separated Rutgers Medical School from Rutgers University and made it part of New Jersey College of Medicine and Dentistry, and many faculty left the medical school, including the dean of the medical school, Dewitt Stetten, who later became the director of the National Institutes of Health. As a result of the separation of the medical school from Rutgers University, Ph.D. programs that had been started in the medical center were lost, and students had to seek other institutions to finish their degrees. After the dissolution of the University of Medicine and Dentistry in 2013, the medical school again became part of the university.
Before 1982, separate liberal arts faculties existed in the several separate "residential colleges" (Rutgers, Douglass, Livingston, University, and Cook colleges) at Rutgers–New Brunswick.