Residential Colleges Proposed for Rutgers University
Posted by R. J. O’Hara for the Collegiate Way
5 August 2002 (collegiateway.org) — The long-time president of Rutgers University in New Jersey recently announced his resignation, and this has generated a great deal of campus discussion about the qualities needed in his successor and about Rutgers’ future direction. A brilliantly polemical essay by William Dowling, Professor of English at Rutgers, recommends a comprehensive reconstruction of Rutgers campus life and the establishment of a system of residential colleges. Like many large universities, Rutgers has been financially wrecked by its Division I athletics program. Dowling points out that great improvements could be made in the quality of education at Rutgers with a fraction of the money that has been flushed into its sports program. That is a lesson that needs to be learned by universities across the United States. I recommend Dowling’s essay without qualification and I encourage all interested readers to share it with their colleagues.
An editorial note: Dowling’s essay is an open letter addressed to Eugene O’Hara, the chair of Rutgers’ Board of Governors. Eugene O’Hara is no relation to Robert O’Hara, the humble author of this Collegiate Way website.
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