President Holloway Delivers Final Annual Stakeholder Address

Rutgers is making remarkable advances throughout some deeply challenging years by widely telling the university's larger story, President Jonathan Holloway said in his third annual address to the university's key supporters.

Holloway, in the fifth and final year of his presidency, noted the university has persevered through a pandemic, labor strife, student protests and a budget deficit while holding firm to Rutgers' commitment to excellence and access, building community and a determination to contribute to the common good.

"We shone a spotlight on the scientists and health care heroes and others at Rutgers who helped us and the world come through the pandemic. We celebrated the remarkable talent of our faculty, helped our outstanding students capture some of the most coveted fellowships in the world and reached out to our alumni near and far to share in our relentless pursuit of excellence," Holloway said.

The president acknowledged that this year's annual address to thank stakeholders and convey the university's most recent milestones occurred at an especially solemn time amid turbulent political currents both global and national.

"Many times over the last year, my peer presidents and I have struggled to strike the right chord, doing everything we could to keep our communities safe while also protecting the freedoms that are the lifeblood of the academic enterprise," Holloway said. "I didn't need the events of the last year to let me know that I will not get everything right, but due to so many events in the last year there is one thing of which I am certain: never has our society needed higher education more. It is needed to protect inquiry, to provide open forums for exchanging difficult ideas, to change lives and create opportunities and to preserve those democratic values we hold most dear."

"Fortunately, never has Rutgers been better positioned to make a difference," he told nearly 2,000 alumni, students, faculty, staff, donors, university board members and government officials who gathered virtually and in person at Jersey Mike's Arena.

Rutgers on the Rise

He called out Efesson Meyer, a Posse Scholar in the audience who is part of the selective leadership training program as the kind of remarkable student who is choosing Rutgers. Holloway noted applications to the university are at an all-time high, with more than 76,000 students applying over the past year alone from New Jersey, across the country and around the world.

Record applications led to record enrollment this year. The Class of 2028, the largest incoming class in Rutgers' 258-year history, is also one of the most diverse with 25 percent hailing from another state or another country.

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