The Roots of Rutgers’ Diversity

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From the left, Phillip Garcia, the assistant dean of Livingston College; Ernest Lynton, dean of the college; and students Judy Byrnes and Timothy Harris days before the opening of the college in 1969.

Photography: 

courtesy of Rutgers University Archives/Special Collections

The diversity of the student body at Rutgers today has much to do with three events that took place 50 years ago: the student takeover of Conklin Hall at Rutgers University–Newark, the opening of Livingston College at Rutgers University–New Brunswick, and passage of a state law ensuring access to education for students in need. In February 1969, members of the Black Organization of Students, demanding more representation of African-American students and faculty at Rutgers–Newark, occupied the academic building until their grievances were acknowledged. Seven months later, Livingston College, the first coed liberal arts college at Rutgers–New Brunswick, opened its progressive doors to provide a unique academic experience for a new, diverse generation of students, many of them the first in their families to attend college. Universitywide, students coming from backgrounds  of economic and educational disadvantage had begun to benefit from the financial aid and support services available through the New Jersey Educational Opportunity Fund, created in 1968.