Livingston College (Rutgers University)
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Livingston College was one of the schools that comprised Rutgers University, the State University of New Jersey, from 1969-2007. With the merging of the New Brunswick-area liberal arts undergraduate colleges into one School of Arts and Sciences in the Fall of 2007, all active academic remnants of the college will eventually become completely defunct once its currently enrolled students graduate, most by 2010.
Named after William Livingston, the first post-colonial governor of New Jersey, Livingston College was founded in 1969 as the first coeducational, liberal arts college of Rutgers University. The University states: "Livingston embodied the spirit of social responsibility and cultural awareness demanded by students of the time." The College was created in response to the socio-political changes in the United States during the 1960s.
The college buildings were erected on the Kilmer Campus (later renamed Livingston Campus) in Piscataway, New Jersey, between Metlars and Cedar Lanes. The land had formerly been part of the U.S. Army's Camp Kilmer, a staging area during World War II. The army reserve still uses a small part of the original camp today. A large amount of parking was created on this campus, mainly because the Louis Brown Athletic Center served as the temporary home of the New Jersey Nets basketball team from 1977 to 1981.
The Livingston Student Center opened in 1986. The few student center facilities were previously located in Tillett Hall. Even after the opening of the new center, there were frequent complaints of the inadequate facilities on the campus being a primary reason for its continued isolation from the rest of the New Brunswick/Piscataway-area University community, and was known as a "ghost town," especially on weekends. Requests to upgrade the dining hall and student center to be comparable with those of other campuses were fruitless for nearly two decades. However, groundbreaking for a new student center/dining hall complex began in December 2007 and is scheduled for completion in fall of 2009.
Like the other former liberal arts colleges--Douglass College, University College (the night school), and the liberal arts facet of Cook College--Livingston College maintained separate requirements for admission, good standing, and graduation. By the turn of the century, many in the University's community were questioning whether these multiple colleges and their various requirements were serving the purposes for which they were each founded, or had simply become redundant and inefficient - perhaps a victim of their own successes. This was especially relevant for Livingston College which, unlike Cook and Douglass, was created by Rutgers University rather than being acquired through absorption of pre-existing schools. With no faculty in any of these colleges, all having merged in 1982 into one "Faculty of Arts and Sciences," and the confusion which existed by having five separate undergraduate liberal arts colleges, the merger into one Rutgers School of Arts and Sciences was inevitable.
Although the college, as an academic institution is functionally irrelevant as of the fall of 2007, and will soon be completely defunct as an academic unit in all respects, the campus will remain an active part of Rutgers' facilities and continue to serve the New Brunswick area colleges. With the formation of the School of Arts and Sciences, many first year students will be residing on the Livingston Campus. The Livingston Student Center will soon be completely renovated and expanded, and the dormitories upgraded. These factors and the Route 18 extension completed in 2006, expediting inter-campus bus travel, will make the campus much more lively.
[edit] Buildings on Livingston
- Tillett Hall — Named after Paul Tillett, a political science professor, who played a major part of the planning for Livingston College. This building holds the dining hall, the post office, the learning center, the counseling center, the departments of Psychology (part) and Latino and Hispanic Caribbean studies, computer labs, and various classrooms.
- Kilmer Area Library (one of the few indications of the original name of the campus)
- Louis Brown Athletic Center — originally called the Rutgers Athletic Center (RAC), and initially the home court of the New Jersey Nets basketball team.
- Lucy Stone Hall — Named after the founder of the New Jersey Woman's Suffrage Association, this building holds many administrative offices, the departments of Sociology, Geography and Criminal Justice, as well as many classrooms and a few lecture halls. Built in the days of social upheaval in the late 1960s and early 1970s, this building was allegedly designed to be "riot proof."
- Livingston Student Center
- Livingston Recreation Center (renovated in the Winter of 2007), originally known as the Livingston Gym.
- North and South Towers (dormitories)
- The Quads (dormitories)
- Beck Hall (classrooms and chemistry laboratories)
- Levin Building (the business school)
- Livingston/Busch Health Center
- Livingston Classroom Building (modular building structure) — the newest building on Livingston
- Neurotoxicology laboratories
- Many maintenance and storage buildings are also located on Livingston's campus. Some of these are original facilities from Camp Kilmer.
- The Livingston Arts Building (Mason Gross Sculpture Department)
[edit] Notable alumni
- Avery Brooks (1973) — actor (Spenser: For Hire, Star Trek: Deep Space Nine) and Mason Gross professor of Fine Arts
- Mark Helias (1974) — jazz musician
- Thomas F. Daley (1975) — appellate judge, Louisiana circuit court
- John S. Lipori (1975) — Exec. VP and Chief Trust Officer, The Bank of New York
- Eddie Jordan (1977) — NBA basketball player and Washington Wizards coach
- Gregg Spiridellis (1993) — co-owner of JibJab Media
- Harry Swayne (1990) — NFL football player
[edit] External links
- Official website
- A 2004 article on merging Rutgers and Livingston Colleges from the Daily Targum student newspaper
