Core of the Matter 1/25/20: A New Era at Rutgers? Black Students Speak on Jonathan Holloway

Earlier this week, Rutgers announced that Jonathan Holloway, former master at Yale University and current Provost at Northwestern University, will become the next president of Rutgers. Holloway will be the first Black president at Rutgers in the 254 year history of the university. A scholar with a PhD in history, Holloway’s research has centered around post-emancipation U.S. history, with a focus on social and intellectual history. In 2013, he published his second book, Jim Crow Wisdom: Memory and Identity in Black America since 1940. Many people are commending this announcement, seeing it as a long-overdue correction in a university where issues around diversity, equity, and inclusion have historically been ignored, minimized, or outright denied. Holloway’s intellectual and leadership experience indicate the potential for a significant departure from the Barchi era, and changes are definitely in store for Rutgers.

However, with enrollment at Rutgers more than tripling the size of both Northwestern and Yale, it is difficult to predict exactly how Holloway will govern a much larger university, one with an entirely different campus environment from the previous two schools he helped lead. However, what is clear is that Holloway will be forced to answer to the black students, staff, and faculty members at Rutgers who are demanding fundamental changes to a university that is still struggling with the legacy of racial discrimination on-campus. James Boyle and Thevuni Athalage sit down with three of these voices: Sydni Collins, secretary of Black Lives Matter Rutgers and a junior here at the New Brunswick campus, Jada Agree, the chair of BLM and a junior here at the university, and Bryan Matthew, the high school outreach co-chair for the Rutgers NAACP and a senior at Rutgers.