Rutgers Kicks Off Year-Long 250th Birthday Party

Rutgers University, the state university of New Jersey, is kicking off its year-long 250th anniversary celebration Tuesday, Nov. 10.

Why today? Here’s some RU history: On Nov. 10, 1766 the charter was signed to create Queens College. The school, one of nine colleges established in the state of New Jersey before the American Revolution, was intended to train young men to become ministers in the Dutch Reformed Church.

However, Queens College would later fall on hard times and was renamed Rutgers College in 1825, after donations from New York City philanthropist Henry Rutgers kept the struggling institution afloat. Rutgers College officially become the state university of New Jersey in 1956.

And that is why today, Nov. 10, kicks off a year-long birthday celebration at Rutgers that will culminate in its 250-year celebration on Nov. 10, 2016.

Festivities start at 4 p.m. on the Old Queens lawn. There will be colonial bell ringers, free food (always appreciated by college students!), fires, fife-and-drum corps, a bell choir, live music and the Scarlet Knight on horseback. Between 4 p.m. and 5:30 p.m., students can try on a tricorn hat and take a picture in a photo booth, as well as other activities.

The American Revolution theme is prominent because Henry Rutgers was a fierce advocate for American independence from Great Britain, and also a Revolutionary War hero.

Fun events that mark Rutgers’ 250th birthday:

• The Ben Franklin Bridge between Camden and Philadelphia will glow red on Nov. 10, 2015 in honor of the birthday kickoff (and Rutgers University-Camden).
• A freshman course studying (and eating) the foods of New Jersey and Rutgers over the past 250 years
• U.S. Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor will speak at Rutgers in April.
• In Oct. 2016, Rutgers will host a symposium on the role of humanities in 21st century education, led by Kwame Anthony Appiah, a New York University philosophy professor and author of “The Ethicist” column in the New York Times.

Photo and video credit: Rutgers University