Richard Edwards, chancellor of the flagship campus of Rutgers University in New Brunswick, announced that in conjunction with the 250th anniversary of the educational institution’s founding, the university has formed a “Committee on Enslaved and Disenfranchised Populations in Rutgers History.”
Dr. Edwards, in a letter to the campus community, stated that “we must acknowledge that our history includes some facts that we have ignored for too long, such as that our campus is built on land taken from the Lenni-Lenape and that a number of our founders and early benefactors were slave holders. It is time that we begin to recognize the role that disadvantaged populations such as African Americans and Native tribes played in the University’s development.”
Dr. Edwards has charged the committee with examining the history of the university relating to race and to make recommendations on steps the university can take to acknowledge this history.
