I’d wager every other state has a “U of State” or “State U”…except NJ. What is it with NJ, dare I ask? I once heard there was an explanation as to why NJ shall not have a “State U” or “U of State”. Why is this? Who was Rutgers, and how did he hold so much power in NJ? …must have been the god of full serve gas!
i don’t know if i can really help, but a lot of my friends go to rutgers, and it’s called the state university of new jersey. i also have a few friends that go the college of new jersey near trenton. according to the official website, rutgers was named after colonel henry rutgers in 1825, who was a revolutionary war veteran and a trustee of the school. it was originally called queen’s college. i’ve lived in new jersey for most of my life, and believe rutgers is as close as you can get to the ‘university of new jersey.’ the college of new jersey was called trenton state university until 6 or 7 years ago, and it’s also not an actual university. hope that helps.
i meant trenton state college. calling it a university kind of undermines my argument 
Such universities as Michigan State and Penn State were founded around 1862, the year the Morrill Act (named after Justin Morrill, then a U.S. Representative from Vermont) was passed. The act, which provided public lands for colleges devoted to such areas as agriculture and the mechanical arts, was thus also known as the Land-Grant College Act.
In such “newer” states as Colorado, which was not admitted to the Union until 1876, the practice was to designate the “academic” school the “University of (place)” and the “practical” institution “(place) State College” (later “University”). However, in the case of New Jersey, the decision was made to grant land in the vicinity of the already-existing Rutgers College to the cause of training farmers, mechanics, schoolteachers, and tradesmen. Thus, the liberal-arts Rutgers College became a part of Rutgers University, and the “ivory-tower intellectuals” studied in close proximity to the “sons of the soil”.
Because racial segregation was the law of the land in the Southern part of the USA, several states got two land-grant institutions. For example, North Carolina State served whites, while blacks attended
North Carolina A & T, one of the schools set up by the Second Morrill Act in 1890. Today, N.C. A & T (Agricultural & Technical) works closely with N.C. State, as well as with other land-grant institutions throughout the USA. Although A & T, Virginia State, and similar universities maintain their “historically black” character, they are open to students of all races, as are N.C. State, Virginia Tech, etc.
Incidentally, Indiana’s land-grant institution is not Terre Haute’s Indiana State but Purdue, which is located in West Lafayette, just across the river from my “Location”.
Every few years a state representative tries to get the school renamed, due to the significant amount of state funds that support it. Since Rutgers undeniably has a better reputation than NJ (except in football), and a lot of tradition besides, this is always vigorously opposed by everyone involved. So far it has been defeated everytime. The farthest they’ve gotten was to change the “official” name to “Rutgers, the State University of New Jersey”. Which makes some people happy and everyone else can just ignore it.
There is a speculative plan out there to unify Rutgers University, the New Jersey Institute of Technology, and the University of Medicine and Dentistry of NJ into a single statewide university. This would plug a few gaps in the system. Regrettably, I doubt the name would survive that big a change.
FYI, the Ag school that’s part of Rutgers is called Cook College.
SmackFu
RU Eng '98
I’m one of the op’s friends that currently goes to school at Rutgers. I thought you might be interested to know that for the past year New Jersey Governor James McGreevey has made it his personal goal to form a larger “official” University of New Jersey with Rutgers being the starting point. This idea has been shunned by the majority of current students and alumni of Rutgers, mainly because it would strip us of our name and combine Rutgers, UMDNJ, and NJIT, forming an entirely too large university that would be overseen not by academians but corporate leaders and/or business owners. His idea is basically that he wants a state medical school, modeled after the Californina education system. However, the Rutgers title is still, “The State University of New Jersey”.
To expound a bit: Colorado State University is a fairly new designation. It was originally Agricultural College of Colorado, Became Colorado State College of Agriculture and Mechanical arts (Colorado A&M) before finally ending up as Colorado State University In the 50’s or 60’s.
Maybe a little off topic, but this is as good a place as any to mention it. The state of New York has, of course, an extensive state university system called “SUNY” (standing for, of course, State University of New York), but no one university is called New York State University.
…but it almost happened this year. Tom Golisano, erstwhile businessman, three-time gubernatorial candidate and owner of the Buffalo Sabres, approached the University at Buffalo with an interesting offer: he would donate an undisclosed sum (I heard $15 million from an “inside source”) to the athletic department at UB on the condition that the university change its title to “New York State University.” The offer was rejected for “undisclosed reasons.” Translation, according to my “inside source”: The idea was “too stupid for words.”
To confuse things even further, the land grant institution of New York State (generally designated in other states as X State University as mentioned by Sternvogel) is Cornell University. Cornell is both a private, Ivy League school and part of the publicly-funded SUNY system.
And… Trenton (State) College has been renamed The College of New Jersey. Why? I don’t know. Other state colleges, like Ramapo, are still called by their location name.
Trenton State renamed themselves because in the US News study they constantly get picked as one of the top 25 best values for college. They figured their name didn’t live up to their accolades.
Hmm, this makes me ask: IS NYU a state-run or private university?
I’m confused - can you clarify this? How can Cornell be both private and public? The two are mutually exclusive, are they not?
Kramer
NYU is a private school.
Cornell divides things up by colleges. The “contract” (i.e., state) colleges are:
[ul]
[li]College of Veterinary Medicine [/li][li]College of Agriculture and Life Sciences [/li][li]College of Human Ecology [/li][li]School of Industrial and Labor Relations [/li][/ul]
These are true land-grant institutions created by the NYS Legislature based on the provisions of the Morrill Act of 1862.
The “endowed” colleges are privately-funded and receive no direct support from the state:
[ul]
[li]College of Arts and Sciences [/li][li]College of Engineering [/li][li]College of Architecture, Art, and Planning [/li][li]School of Hotel Administration [/li][li]Johnson Graduate School of Management [/li][li]Law School [/li][li]Weill Medical College [/li][li]Graduate School of Medical Sciences [/li][li]Graduate School[/li][/ul]
Their original endowment came from Ezra Cornell himself.
Ah…got it. Thank you.
Kramer
I go to The College of New Jersey. Many people still call it Trenton State. Nothing much else to add, though.