History

We are one of three campuses of Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey, which is the eighth oldest college in the United States and a member of the Association of American Universities.  But don’t look for us on the banks of the Raritan; our hometown is the city along the banks of the Passaic River, the city founded by the Puritans more than three centuries ago when they first landed in New Jersey.   Ivy-covered walls were never the style here; we’ve grown from a collection of disparate buildings to the modern facilities of today’s Rutgers-Newark.  No boundaries separate us off from our home city; instead we are a campus without borders, an integral part of the city and its citizens’ lives.  We pride ourselves in saying that Rutgers-Newark is not just in the city of Newark, but is a part of Newark.

Our roots date back to 1908, when the New Jersey Law School first opened its doors. That law school, along with four other educational institutions in Newark: Dana College, the Newark Institute of Arts & Sciences, the Seth Boyden School of Business, and the Mercer Beasley School of Law - formed a series of alliances over the years. A final merger in 1936 resulted in the establishment of the University of Newark. A decade later, Rutgers University in Newark was founded when the New Jersey State Legislature voted to make the University of Newark part of Rutgers University.  That conglomeration of small institutions is now a world-class urban research and teaching institution, with 12,000 students and more than 500 faculty.  

The look of our campus has changed over the decades, along with student hairstyles and clothing. But we remain true to Rutgers’ three-part mission: research, teaching and service, centered on the people and institutions of New Jersey.  We also have not forgotten our campus’s traditional commitment to provide a one central mission:  to provide a first-rate education to students regardless of their economic backgrounds, to first-generation college attendees, and to students of diverse racial, ethnic, and religious backgrounds. We remain, proudly, the “anti-ivory tower.”

To learn more about the history of Rutgers University in Newark:

• A Century of Reaching Higher (PDF)  A centennial history of Rutgers in Newark
• The Once and Future Newark A film tour with Professor Clement Price
• RBS at Seventy-Five (PDF) A history of Rutgers Business School
• History of the Rutgers School of Law-Newark
• Brewing Bachelors: The History of the University of Newark (PDF)
• Historical Photos
• Progressive Thinking, Rutgers Magazine, Spring 2008
• Newark Mayor Cory Booker’s Address at the Rutgers-Newark Centennial Gala
• History Timeline